Scandal
by corymontetih
Summary: Rachel Berry just got nominated for a Tony, while Noah Puckerman just got out of rehab, again. In the midst of faking a relationship for attention and publicity, Rachel finds herself drawn to his best friend and bandmate, Finn Hudson, and the feeling's mutual. Is it possible to have both true love and fame, or is this just a recipe spelled out for disaster?
1. So It Begins

**Hi guys. This is my first fic, and probably one of several to come involving Finchel. I'm just starting out, so there are probably a few mistakes here and there. Don't hesitate to point them out to me, as I do love constructive criticism. Oh, I also wanted to just say that originally this chapter contained 4,500+ words but I found a natural break in the middle of it all, so that's why I decided to just stop the first chapter there. Tell me if it was a good idea? Please review if you have the time and willpower! It would be much appreciated. **

**I don't want to hold you here much longer, so thanks and enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Glee, which includes all the copyrighted characters, locations, etc. I'm just another Finchel loving fic writer, meaning the only thing I own is my imagination.**

* * *

Rachel let out a sigh as she slammed her book shut. "Love in the Streets of Hollywood." She murmured the book's title to herself. "As if! I've barely been able to keep a boy around for more than a couple of months before having to dump him cause I rain checked too many of our dates in favor of a few shows."

"Well that's the price of fame honey." Santana stretched her long, tanned legs outward in front of her. "Although you must admit, it does come with a few nice perks."

Rachel giggled. Santana was right, she shouldn't be complaining. Even though constantly practicing, writing, and recording songs, along with performing in Broadway shows was exciting, it was also cruelly exhausting to her body. Whenever she had the chance, she'd drive right on over to her summer house in the Hamptons and have some amazing relaxation time all to herself. So many people just weren't as lucky.

Setting down her book, she grabbed the nearest magazine. The minute she glanced at the cover, she let out a groan. "Seriously? How long will this whole Jake, Marley, Ryder fiasco be going on?"

Santana shrugged. "I give it a couple of weeks before the damn paparazzi find something more interesting for them to go scavenge on."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she flipped through the pages to see if there was anything new about the trio. Apparently Marley was seen at some restaurant with Ryder, although in a "committed" relationship with Jake, while Jake was seen alone for a couple of days after that outing. Truth is, Rachel knew enough about celebrity relationships to know that their "commitment" was probably just a publicity stunt for their recent album collaboration. They'd be "broken up" by the end of the week.

"Any call-ins for an interview or something with me?" She asked hopefully.

Santana frowned. "Sorry, no."

"It's alright I wasn't really expecting one anyways." Rachel sighed.

Santana waited until Rachel was through with her magazine before adjusting herself to face her. "Actually Rachel, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Rachel glanced at her before taking a sip of her margarita. "I know you well enough by now Santana, to know that you're hiding something from me. Spill the beans already."

"Well, ever since news about your Tony nomination broke, there hasn't been much publicity surrounding you recently."

Rachel shrugged. "I kind of like it, not having the attention all on me right now. Takes off a lot of pressure, so I don't have to be scared I'll do something stupid while grabbing coffee or something."

Santana gasped. "Did I really just hear Rachel Berry saying she was glad she wasn't in the spotlight for once? Who are you?"

Rachel playfully threw a towel at her friend. "You know what I mean."

"Of course, of course. Even outspoken, crazy, Broadway divas like you need some time away from playing the role of massive attention soaking sponge for the media." Rachel rolled her eyes. "Anyways, as great as alone time is, you happen to know that publicity can also be a good thing. We need to boost your image in time for the awards, not to mention the release of your next album."

"Alright, that sounds good to me. But how am I gonna be able to score the cover of, let's say, US Weekly without a hot story to back it up? It's not as if I'm going to go all cocaine crazy like Lindsay, or shave my head like Britney."

Santana gave her friend a smirk. "No, no we don't want that. There is something else though, that can help move all the attention on you, and rocket your sales. As much as the paparazzi loves covering crazy celebrity stints, there's nothing juicier and hotter than a good celebrity relationship."

"I suppose. But believe it or not, I don't have any line of hot celebrities just waiting out there for me."

"Easy, I already found one. I have a physic eye for this kind of stuff."

"Who?"

"Noah Puckerman."

Rachel took off her sunglasses and glared at Santana. "Talk about disgusting! You couldn't find anyone less glamorous and more repulsive for me?"

Santana shrugged. "He's hot. Like hot as in nice arms, but also hot as in making the news."

"Because he's usually caught in a fight at a club or sleeping with some random chick he decided to pick up?"

"Look, whether you like it or not, Puck is definitely one of your best shots at boosting your star power right now. I've talked to his manager about it, and it's kind of already been set up."

"I hate when you just dump things like this on me last minute." Rachel sighed.

"Sounds like you're in?"

"Santana, I am so beyond furious with you right now."

"You'll come around to thank me for it later." Santana rolled her eyes. "So you're in, Berry?"

"If this comes back to bite me in the ass, you better hide because I'll make sure to come straight for yours."

Santana laughed. "I don't think so. We both know I'm beyond capable of taking care of myself, and you might want to watch that beak of yours Berry or I'll be making a beeline for it if you come after me."

"So how is this thing going to work? Do we just appear out in public one day with our hands clasped and voila, we're together?"

"Well, like I said, I've talked with their manager and we've already arranged for the two of you to meet privately with us tomorrow so we can talk things over and plan out how exactly this relationship's going to be working. We want things to go as smoothly as possible for you two, because let's be honest here, this is taking a huge risk. If you guys get caught, the only place both your career and their band's career will be headed is straight towards a dead end."

Rachel slowly swallowed her drink. It was horrifying enough to think about the looks on her fans' faces if they realized she was lying to them, just so she could sell out more of her albums.

"Alright, I'm in. But I can't believe you arranged a meeting without even knowing what my answer would be."

Santana threw her hands up in amusement and placed her sunglasses back on her face. "Come on Rachel, really? You know me, and that means you also happen to know that pretty much nobody, and I mean nobody, can say no to Santana Lopez."

* * *

Rachel stopped for a moment to think for a second. Even though she knew she wouldn't actually be dating Noah, she still wanted to make as fabulous of an impression as she could. After all, she _was_ Rachel Berry, and Rachel Berry needs to make an entrance.

With Starbucks in her hand and her sunglasses on, she took a deep breath, and started to walk towards the door. She stretched her hand out forward to grab the door handle when someone suddenly flung the door open and collided straight into her, causing her to drop her bag and drink in surprise.

"Oh god, sorry dude. I guess I oughta be more careful."

Seriously? Who was calling HER, Rachel Berry, Broadway star, dude? Irritated and about to give a lecture about the number of possible word choices he could have used when addressing her rather than "dude", she looked up and stopped mid-word as she met a pair of gorgeous amber eyes. They bore into hers and for a moment the two of them just stood there in silence, staring into each other's eyes until he suddenly broke the tension by scrunching up his face in confusion. "Wait a second, aren't you Rachel Berry?"

She suddenly straightened up. "Why yes, I am. Glad you recognize me, _dude_."

He smirked. "I guess you don't recognize me though."

Who was he? Did he happen to work with her on one of her shows? It must've been a recent one, since that slight scruff, messy brown hair, and half smirked face all seemed very familiar.

He waited for an answer, and was about to speak up when it hit her.

"You're Noah's bandmate –"

"Finn."

"– Finn Hudson."

He nodded, that smirk still plastered on his face. "Want an autograph? Cause just that look on your face spells starstruck."

"You've got to be kidding. I'm nominated for a Tony, I have albums breaking records across the country, and you're telling me that I'M in awe over YOU?" She laughed. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard this whole week."

"Well aren't you one heck of a diva, and I thought the magazines were just kidding around."

"You've got some nerve tall boy."

"Are you into me already babe? Sure I get the girls, but it usually does take a little longer than this."

She scoffed at his second ridiculous statement of the day. "I have more urgent matters to take care of and more important places to be than standing here all day insulting you, and I was on my way actually, until you rudely bumped into me with that tall, burly figure of yours."

"Let me guess, you were on your way to meet your boyfriend. Or well, your so called boyfriend until you start seeing more of those zeros on your album sales?"

Flustered, she didn't know how to reply. "I don't —"

"I've been told everything already, relax. I think it's a cool idea and since you'll be helping our band along the way, who am I to complain? Plus, you are kinda hot. " He winked.

She shook her head. "Then you better not open that mouth of yours while you're drunk at some club or wherever it is you crazy animals go, and end up ruining this for everyone. And don't hit on me, I'm practically fake-dating your best friend!"

He laughed. "Don't worry, I've got a girl. Well, I wouldn't say I'm all with her either. A man has his needs, you know?"

"Like most men, you, Finn Hudson, are a pig." Tired of talking to him, she brushed past him as he had continued to hold the door wide open.

"Hey Rach." He called after her.

She ignored him and continued to walk away.

"I know being a diva you just need to have that dramatic walk off and all, but you do realize you left your bag behind, right?"

She stopped in her tracks and blushed. She sure was glad she didn't have to fake-date this guy, because in just a span of a few minutes, Finn Hudson had somehow already managed to get under her skin.

* * *

"Hey, what held you up? Your chauffer called and told me you guys got here like ten minutes ago."

"I bumped into Finn Hudson on the way up, and he wouldn't leave me alone." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh great, you've already met him. He probably already told you this, but that burly sack of potatoes is in on this whole thing, so you better play nice if you don't want your credibility going down the toilet." Santana warned.

"No worries, I just won't talk to him." Rachel shrugged.

Santana shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well…"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Oh geez, what else aren't you telling me?

Before Santana could reply, a decently dressed and pleasantly smelling man walked into the room.

"Hi Rachel, I'm Kurt Hummel. Specifically speaking, I am the personal manager for both Puck and his fellow bandmate Finn Hudson, and so I will be taking charge of these PR affairs along with your manager, Santana. ND4, the band, has a separate manager, William Schuester, if you ever feel the need to contact him for any reason, although I doubt you will as I will be primarily in charge when it comes to Puck and Finn." He outstretched his hand forward, indicating for Rachel to shake it.

She gave him a big, classic Rachel Berry, smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurt."

He smiled back. "The same goes to you Miss Berry. I've heard great things about you."

"Please, just call me Rachel. And I'm sure most of those things you've heard include something along the lines of me being a drama queen which, I can assure you, is most definitely true." She said as she gave a light-hearted laugh. "Where's Noah?"

As if right on cue, into the room entered another young man with a mohawk, somewhat battered clothes, toned arms, and a slight scent of alcohol to him.

"How's it going, princess?"

She found herself repulsed by his appearance, but still managed to give him a weak smile. "So… how will this thing be working out exactly?"

Santana got up and walked over to the trio. "Well obviously if the two of you just randomly walk into public sucking on each others' faces, it'll raise some suspicion. It's probably best if the two of you take things slow at first, like walking into stupid restaurants on cheesy dates with your arms linked and hands touching, but not too much contact, so it leaves the public wondering. Are they together? Are they not?!"

Kurt nodded. "At first, Finn will be accompanying you guys so it doesn't look too serious between the two of you yet."

Rachel's mouth opened in surprise. So this is what Santana had been hiding from her. "What? Are you telling me I have to deal with not just one, but TWO of these buffoons?"

"Hey Jewish Barbie, the buffoon you're talking about is standing right here." Puck replied with his arms crossed. "Look, I'm only on board with this idea cause it's gonna give the band a bit more mojo. We'll be selling out faster and faster. Plus, chicks dig a good romantic sucker story. Imagine all the hotties that'll be chasing after me." He smirked.

"This guy's even worse than the other one." Rachel thought to herself. "So anyways, I'll be walking around hand in hand with dumb and dumber, and then eventually we come public with our relationship. What next?" She asked.

"Don't worry about that, we've got it covered. We're planning about a five or six month relationship, packed with all those necessary juicy break-ups and make-ups we call gossip, exactly what this country practically feeds on." Kurt replied.

"Hopefully you're not stupid enough to mess up, but just keep this in your mind always. Don't tell anyone, and I mean it. Not your folks, not your co-workers. The only people who know are obviously you guys, Finn, Kurt, and myself. Don't screw up our plans either, just do what we say. You will most definitely regret it if you find a way to screw everything up." Santana threatened.

"Yeah sure, whatever. Kurt's probably warned me about a million times already, it's practically implanted into my head. Does this mean I can't sleep with other chicks or?"

"No you can't sleep around like you usually do, you moron." Rachel snapped. "If we're in a relationship and a picture of you and some blonde 40-something cougar ends up on the front cover of People magazine, we're done for."

"Aw man." Puck groaned. "Tell me you're gonna sleep with me at least. I'm like a sex shark baby, if I don't move, I die."

"Wow, I've never been less turned on in my life."

"Wanky." Santana smirked.

Clearly annoyed, Kurt's eyebrows furrowed. "No, Puck. At least ATTEMPT to control your hormones, and don't even try and kiss the girl or anything unless we specifically say to." He warned. "This goes for you also, Rachel."

"Don't worry about me. I don't even want to touch him unless I absolutely have to."

"Resist me all you want now, you'll probably end up in bed with me anyways sweetie." Puck sighed and plopped himself onto the couch. "Six months without sex? How…"

"I've done it before, I honestly don't know why you're acting like it's the end of the world. And this is coming from ME, the ultimate drama queen."

"Well diva or not, you're boring." He countered.

"Shut it Puckerman!"

"Alright, alright just remember to leave the trash talk for when you guys are alone. Don't dish any of this when you guys are out and about in the eyes of papparazi." Kurt warned.

"I really hope you idiots don't screw everything up. You guys can barely stand to be in the same room right now, how in the world do you hope in convincing millions of people the two of you are in love?" Santana rolled her eyes.

Rachel sat herself next to Puck and glared at him. She was Rachel Berry, and while she could easily convey the role of someone like Fanny Brice to an audience of thousands, this was an entirely new ballpark. This time, her career was literally hanging by a thread based on how well she could perform. A thread that was named Noah Puckerman.


	2. Let's Get This Show On the Road

**I decided since I already had this written up and saved on my computer, I might as well publish it and start working on my next chapter. This was originally supposed to go along with chapter one, but I felt it would be better to have their first date as a separate chapter, which explains why this one's a little short.  
**

**Enjoy! And please review, they really do help and make my day for the most part. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Glee, although it would be fun if I did.  
**

* * *

Rachel glanced in the mirror one last time, making sure her mascara and eyeliner were perfectly set and that her outfit showed no sign of creases or wrinkles. After ensuring that she looked her best, she took a deep breath before plastering a not too noticeably fake grin on her face. As much as the idea of being out in public with Noah and Finn repulsed her, she still needed to make the appearance that she was having a good time as believable as possible.

She heard her phone ring and picked it up to see that she had a new text from Noah.

"What are you doing in there, having a fashion show? We've been waiting a few blocks away for a while now, get out here already."

Annoyed and not bothering to reply, she hurriedly grabbed her keys and made her way out in her 5 inch heels. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Puck impatiently motioned her for to get in. He had left shotgun open for her to sit, but in reluctance of having to argue with him the entire ride, she decided that it would probably be a safer bet to sit in the backseat.

She seated herself next to Finn, who had immediately turned his attention from his phone to her beautiful but also slightly revealing dress.

"Look away, I can practically feel your eyes undressing me." She warned him.

"Can't stop where my eyes just happen to wander babe." He winked. "Why, aren't you dressed up tonight?"

"I could say the same for the both of you. Not in your usual attire of a raggedy t-shirt and torn jeans, I see." She acknowledged.

He laughed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Kurt would kill us if we did."

"Don't see why though, it's not as if anything big's going down tonight. It's not even a real date yet to the public, since Finn's here with us and all." Puck rolled his eyes.

"Alright, so sure, I'm here to play the role of best friend, but also to make sure you don't screw things up for us like you usually do man." Finn retorted. "Besides, you'll be paying and who am I to say no to free food?"

"What a gentleman for doing so, I must add." Rachel sarcastically added.

Puck groaned. "Shut the hell up. Both of you are giving me a headache."

"Are you sure it isn't just all the alcohol you probably drowned yourself in yesterday?"

Finn shook his head. "Nah, I didn't let him have much. Didn't want him hungover on the very first day of this whole thing."

Rachel eyed him suspiciously. "I'm sure you drank what he didn't though."

He smirked. "You know me well, Berry."

Rachel closed her eyes and sighed. "Let's just get tonight over with."

After what felt like a long ride to the restaurant, which included Puck making a show of swearing at practically every other driver he made contact with and Finn continuing to obviously stare at Rachel's body every chance he got, the trio finally got to seating themselves at a table. They were aware of having the full attention of practically every other diner at the place. After all, since when did innocent, pure Rachel Berry hang around and have dinner with wild, partying, bad boys like Puck and Finn?

Rachel eyed the menu selections. Being a vegetarian, she was constrained to a certain amount of meals to pick from, but she didn't mind. She decided to go with a salad, since she hadn't been to this particular place before and it was pretty difficult to go wrong with salad.

Looking up from her menu, she saw that her companions had already chosen grilled steak along with other meat selections. She really was the complete opposite of them.

"Really, a salad? Liven up a little." Puck suggested.

"I'm a vegetarian, Noah. Salads are fine, and most people love them too."

"Whatever. Why are you a vegetarian anyways? Even if you save some animal by not eating it, there's always gonna be someone like me to eat it for you. You might as well enjoy too, no?"

Rachel glared at him. "Oh just go back to your mindless drooling over steaks and the girl you're probably sexting under the table, you pig."

On that note, Finn looked over at Puck's phone and grinned.

"I'll be paying for less anyways." Puck finally agreed, and went back to his phone.

When their food arrived, Finn and Puck immediately indulged into their meals like wild animals, viciously tearing apart the meat, and eagerly devouring the delicious taste. Rachel rolled her eyes as she took a bite of her salad. It had an interesting tangy feel, she noted thoughtfully. She looked up at her dates with disgust.

"At least try to have some manners?"

"Can't tame the inner beast, babe." Puck shrugged. "Hey, if you're not going to drink that wine though – "

She snatched the glass away from him and took a long sip, teasing him. "Sorry, designated driver means no drinking for you." Rachel and Finn clinked their glasses, while laughing at him.

The remainder of the time, the three didn't do much talking, too into their meals to really bother trying to hold a conversation. It was better than arguing; after all they did need to make a good impression on the public.

They ordered dessert, and under Kurt's ordering, Rachel and Puck made a whole scene showing the rest of the restaurant of how they were sharing a frozen hot chocolate. The two exchanged heart eyes, smiling at each other while feeling the stares of everyone else around them.

After just one or two bites, Rachel began to feel sick, probably from having to act as if she was head over heels in love with Puck the entire time. She ignored it, and attempted to pretend as if she was enjoying everything. Puck was going on and on about how hot some girl he picked up at their last show was, and she was trying her best to act as if she was really into the conversation, nodding and smiling at everything he said.

"Are you alright?" Finn eventually questioned. "You kind of look like you're about to hurl all that lettuce you were eating before."

"It's nothing. It's just some cramps, it'll go away." Rachel grimaced.

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I mean I literally just spent the past ten minutes talking to you about how great I am at video games and you didn't tell me to shut up even once."

She shook her head. "I'm sure I'll be fine. Since when did you guys have a change of heart anyways? It's usually sleep and dump, not doting all over a girl you're dining with to make sure she's fine."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, it wouldn't look too good if our first "date" ends in you throwing up all over my shoes, now would it?"

"It would be pretty funny though." Finn snickered. "Rachel Berry? More like Rachel Barfy."

Rachel's head was pounding hard by this point, and she could barely concentrate on what either of them was saying. She had only a glass or two of wine, or so she remembered, so what was making her feel so sick? One thing was for sure though: all this talk of barf was beginning to stir something inside of her, and she felt that something beginning to rise up towards her mouth.

"Excuse me." She abruptly got up and ran towards the bathroom. She flung open a stall and quickly locked it behind her, before leaning down head-first towards the toilet seat.

"Damn. This is a disaster." She moaned. The date was going alright too, until this turn of events. What would Santana say? Rachel hadn't felt this sick to her stomach since the expired yogurt she accidentally ingested a few months back. Wait a second, expired! Her salad had tasted a bit off, and the dressing did feel a bit –

She didn't have much time to think before everything she had eaten rushed right back up her throat and straight into the toilet.

* * *

Rachel felt awful, there really was no other word for it. After quickly flushing the disgusting chunks of her now discarded meal down the toilet, she looked at her reflection to make sure that her mascara hadn't run, and that it wasn't painfully obvious what had just happened. Her head was still pounding, and even after managing to throw it all up, she wasn't feeling much better. When she made her way back to the table, she sat down and decided she probably wouldn't be able to sit there much longer without feeling the urge to throw up again, and she might not be so lucky to make it to the restroom in time.

"It's been lovely tonight, but you guys were right. I really don't feel too good, I think we should go."

Puck and Finn looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure thing. That just means more time for us to hit up the bar." Puck grinned.

As they waited for the check, Rachel could barely stay seated, fidgeting impatiently. She couldn't wait to get out of here, take some medicine, and lay in her soft, comfortable bed all alone. She rubbed her eyes, releasing a long yawn. Just the thought of it was making her sleepy.

She laid in the backseat of the car, clutching her stomach. Although thankfully the pain hadn't increased, it hadn't decreased significantly either. Rachel felt extremely drowsy after the whole scene in the bathroom, and was fighting to stay awake by this point.

"Hey, hey. Don't fall asleep. Rach we need you to explain how to get to your place from here. We don't know this neighborhood too well, so if you could just get up for a sec, that would be great." She could barely make out what Finn was saying to her, and just replied with an uneducated noise. Maybe it was the wine beginning to kick in, but she really wasn't in the mood to talk, just sleep.

"Quit it, Finn. I just want to sleep."

"Alright, fine, well at least tell us what –"

"Mmm.."

Rachel couldn't figure out what Finn was saying at all anymore, and didn't really feel like bothering. Rachel could feel Finn's hand shaking her shoulders, but she just curled up and smiled to herself before succumbing to the darkness pulling her into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Uh oh. Rachel's knocked out in the back, and neither of them know her address, or apartment number. What are the boys to do now? ;)**

**And I promise that the next chapter will be both longer and have much more precious Finchel interaction. Setting up the characters and plot is fun and all, but it definitely sucks that because of all the introductions, there's not much appropriate timing or room left for interaction between the two yet.**

**Leave a review, they make me happy and motivated! :)**


	3. Finally Friends

**I enjoyed writing this chapter because we get to find out more about Finn, since this chapter's entirely told from his point of view. Is there something behind that bad boy persona after all? ;) And also, there's the introduction of a few new characters (familiar faces though of course)!**

**Well, I won't spoil the entire chapter for you. Oh, and remember, please leave a review! :) They really do make me happy!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Glee, although that would certainly be fun!**

* * *

Finn yawned as he glanced towards the clock to check the time, and then lowered his gaze towards the sleeping brunette on his couch as he ran his fingers through his hair. For a tiny girl, she really could sleep soundly. He watched her breathe softly, wondering what she could possibly be dreaming of.

He turned his attention back to his laptop, and more importantly, his game of Warcraft. Finn's eyebrows furrowed as he clicked here and there, determined to win this round. Too into his game, he failed to notice the girl slowly stirring awake in the corner of his eye.

"Boo-yeah." He grinned. He had won, as usual.

Finn was in the middle of starting a new quest when he felt himself being roughly shoved onto the floor by two small hands.

"What the hell did you do to me last night?" Rachel demanded. He looked up and met her wide eyes that currently contained nothing but pure anger and confusion. "Where am I?"

He rolled his eyes as he gently pushed her off him. "Well, good morning to you too."

"Where am I?" She repeated angrily.

"Where do you think?" He snorted. "You're nowhere else but la casa de one Finn Hudson. Think of yourself as a very lucky girl, Rach."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes at him. "I'm sure there have been PLENTY of girls in here before me, so I don't think I'll be claiming the honor."

He cringed slightly at her accusation. It was sort of true and not something he could necessarily deny, but in his defense, he'd been home alone more often than not recently.

"Anyways, you didn't answer me. What did you do to me last night?" She scowled, clearly still annoyed since she had waken up in his house with no recollection of the prior night's events.

"Hey, relax. Despite everything you've heard of me, I'd never ever take advantage of someone in a state like that. That's just so wrong on so many levels. So no, I didn't do anything to you. Anyways, let's see. You knocked out in the back of Puck's car, even though I repeatedly tried to get you to wake up. It was getting late, but you were out cold, and we had no idea how to get to your place or what your apartment number was. Not to mention, Kurt wasn't picking up his phone all night so we couldn't even contact Santana for the info. So we were left with the option of either taking you to Puck's place, or mine. And let's be honest here, I think you're pretty thankful we picked the second option." He shrugged as he walked towards the refrigerator. "You're welcome."

Her anger visibly faded away quickly as she stared at him at a loss for words. She wouldn't have suspected someone like either of them to do something like that. They had actually taken care of her, and made sure she was safe under their own arms. From all that she'd heard about the pair, she suspected they'd throw her out into the streets, or as horrible of an accusation it was, try and get her into bed with them.

After opening his soda, Finn began to feel uncomfortable in the silence that followed between the pair. She hadn't responded to his recap of the night yet, and she just kept staring at him with those big, wide chocolate colored eyes which he couldn't bring himself to meet. He accidentally made contact with them once, and felt even more awkward and uncomfortable than he already did.

"Well if you aren't going to say something, could you quit staring at me like that? It's kind of beginning to freak me out."

He heard her say something quietly in response, but even with the straining of his ears, he couldn't really make out what she was saying.

"Uhh... did you say something?"

Then, he heard her repeat herself in a slightly louder, but still almost inaudible whisper. "Thank you."

He stared at her in surprise. The diva facade she had put up ever since he bumped into her that day was long gone, and sitting in her place he saw just a small, worn out girl. She was in awful condition, her make-up smudged, and her hair a total mess. He almost felt kind of bad for her.

"Do you mind if I use your shower? I feel kind of gross." She shuddered, still remembering her horrible incident kneeling beside the toilet seat.

Finn nodded. "Yeah, it's whatever."

She gave a weak smile towards him, before she got up and started making her way to his bathroom, when he found himself getting up and following her. "Wait."

She turned slowly with a slightly confused look on her face.

Finn had no idea why he was doing this. He never did this for any other girl who came over for a night, so why now? "Do you want a change of clothes? I could probably find something that you could sorta fit into, even if I am like a foot taller than you." He cursed himself, as he had ditched the bad boy appearance long ago and was now probably looking needy and just making a fool of himself.

She smiled at him and nodded. "That would be great."

For some reason, he found himself smiling back at her.

* * *

Finn was back at his game, determined to win another round. He cursed as he made a blundering move, nearly losing the battle because of his mistake. Still focused on his game, he barely heard Rachel's footsteps as she made her way out of the bathroom. He looked up and his mind went blank for a few seconds as he stared at her approaching in his jersey and boxers. The outfit surprisingly fit well against her small figure, and long, lean legs. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and her eyes seemed a bit brighter than they were before. He decided that he liked her eyes, a lot. Even if they had the power to easily freak him out and make him uncomfortable.

Rachel sat down next to him and peered over at his laptop screen. When she saw what he was up to, she made a face.

"Video games? Really?"

He shrugged. "So?"

"You have one of the worst reputations as a celebrity, a constant partier and womanizer, yet you're sitting here intensely focused on some video game." The sides of her lips were threatening to tug into a smile.

He coughed nervously. "Yeah well, what's manlier than video games, you know. Even badasses like me need to find fun outside of the clubs and stuff." Truth is, inside those clubs he was far from having fun, in fact, he felt like he was suffocating. The only reason he drank so much was so he wouldn't feel the suffocation as much.

"I think I misjudged you, Finn."

Finn looked up at her in surprise, and for a second he felt at ease with her. As if he didn't have to live up to that image he had built up for himself, and one which the public constantly ridiculed him for on a daily basis. If that's what everyone freaking thought about him, then that's what they were going to get. The moment passed briefly though, and he felt himself stiffen as he rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Shouldn't you be out somewhere getting drunk with Noah?" She asked, genuinely curious.

He shook his head. "We have practice later, wouldn't want to show up drunk. Although it wouldn't be the first time, I'm really not in the mood to get my ass kicked by the guys again."

He found himself staring at her, as if waiting for some sort of response. Something along the lines of "you're lying" would suffice. Instead, she just nodded slowly and took out her phone to call someone. Finn loosened up and went back to focusing on his game.

"Santana, I… no… wait… stop that's not fair… SANTANA! Stop yelling for one second and let me talk!" Even Finn could hear the loud yelling from the other side of the line, and he imagined the feisty Latina throwing a fit over the disappearance of her client, even if it was just a few hours.

"A missing person's report? And you say I'm the drama queen. No, I'm at Finn's house." Rachel sighed in exasperation. "God no, I didn't sleep with him, how could you accuse me of something as disgusting as that?!" Ouch. Finn winced, those words had hit home. He sighed, as she was clearly back to her usual drama queen self.

"Well if you think I'm so disgusting, why are you wearing my clothes…?" He murmured under his breath. The look Rachel shot him afterwards indicated he hadn't spoken low enough.

"Okay, okay. I'll see you soon then." She hung up, clearly still worn out, especially after her conversation with Santana. Clutching her forehead, she asked, "Do you have any Advil? My head is killing me, especially after all of that yelling…"

He nodded towards the shelf where he kept a bunch of meds, keeping his eyes focused on the screen. "Take what you need."

"Thanks." She got up and found the medicine, taking two tablets, and made her way to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. After she swallowed the second pill, she returned and plopped back down next to Finn.

"Santana's gonna be here in about three hours to pick me up, guess I'm stuck here till then."

"Alright. The guys will be here in like an hour to practice, so just act cool. Remember, you're still supposed to be acting like there's nothing serious between you and Puck yet."

She laughed. "That won't be too hard."

They sat in silence for a while. She was busy on her phone, and he was busy on his laptop. The two barely knew each other anyways, what was there to talk about? Just the other day the entire conversation they shared was practically just her yelling and insulting him, although he couldn't say she was entirely to blame for their awful impressions either.

Suddenly, Rachel got up and walked back over to his shelves, picking something up to examine it. He turned around to figure out what she was so interested in.

"Is this your mom?" She turned, holding a picture frame.

"Yeah."

She smiled. "You look so happy here."

He found himself unknowingly smiling back. Boy was her smile contagious.

"Are you close to her?"

"Yeah, in this entire world, she's number one to me." He didn't know why he even bothered answering her question.

"How does it feel?"

He raised an eyebrow. "How does what feel?"

"Having a mom." She said in a notably quieter voice. "I mean my dads are great and all, honestly they're probably the most supportive, wonderful parents ever, but sometimes I wonder how it would feel to have a mom, cheering for me in the audience too."

For a split second, her words confused him. Did she just say dads? Was that even biologically possible? No, so how…

"The woman who gave birth to me was a surrogate mother." Rachel explained, as if she were reading his mind. "But even if I met her, she wouldn't really be much of a mom to me, I guess."

He nodded. "It's okay, I know what you mean. My dad passed away when I was a baby." Whoa. That was something he didn't ever tell anyone, like… anyone. Why did he feel the need to just blurt this out to her? It wasn't as if she cared, right?

Her face instantly fell, as she walked over and slowly placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He sighed, and gently but reluctantly, moved her hand off him. "There's nothing to be sorry for really. I have a new dad, Burt. He married my mom a couple years back, and now I have a dad and a brother, who also happens to be my manager. Cool how things work out I guess."

"Kurt's your brother?"

"Yeah, not too many people know that about me." Wow, he really needed to keep his mouth shut.

She hesitated for a moment. "I don't think you're really as _cool_ with all of this as you say you are. You can't fool me, tall boy." She observed sadly.

He looked at her, bewildered as to how she could read his mind like that. It was beginning to spook him out.

"Look, I know you probably love your stepfather and Kurt a lot, but it's not the same as having your real dad. You never even got to know him." She continued. "And that's what I'm sorry for, because I understand how you feel. After all, I never got the chance to even see the woman who gave birth to me."

Finn stayed quiet, unable to respond. He hadn't talked about his father in a really long time, not since his mom refused to say any more than that he was a good man. Since then, he'd given up, only carrying around a small picture of him in his wallet, in hopes that maybe one day he'd know more about the man in the photo.

"Sorry, I get really personal, really fast. I'm overwhelming, I know." Rachel weakly smiled. "I just say things that are on my mind, even if I'm better off not saying them at all."

Finn smirked. "It's alright. Actually, what you said this time was good."

"Look, I know I was really rude when we first met, and yesterday I wasn't exactly any kinder. Let's try to be friends at least, since we'll probably be seeing each other a lot in the next 6 months."

"I guess I wasn't too nice either."

"Friends?"

"Friends."

They shook hands, as they slowly smiled at one another.

"You're honestly a good guy Finn, and I'm sorry that I speculated what kind of guy you were just by reading a couple magazine articles. It's just that I really haven't ever hung out much with guys like you and Puck, so I just automatically assumed the worst." She shrugged. "I'm sure the same goes for you, most people don't like me too much on the first impression either. They usually say I'm too dramatic for their liking."

"Don't worry, I like you."

Her eyes grew wide, the smoldering chocolate color dissolving in a bright twinkle. His words brought a huge smile to her face. "Really?"

He smiled back again. "Yeah, you're loud, talkative, and outspoken, but at least you're honest and real. And you're actually not too mean when you're not busy trying to think of an insult either."

She giggled, and her expression softened at his words. "I don't know why you hide all this sweetness behind a bad boy appearance. You really aren't what you seem, Finn, not at all. You're better than that, actually, by far."

Finn was at a loss of words, unsure how to reply. Her comment had really shaken him. Yes, he had a destructive past involving multiple accounts of drinking, sleeping around, almost getting charged with assault towards an officer. But nobody understood WHY he had lashed out, how lost he had felt. How lost he still felt. He kept it all up, because if that's how everyone saw him, maybe that's just how he had to be.

He opened his mouth to answer her, but saw she was busy back on her phone, probably bored of their conversation by now and texting someone else. Finn sadly shook his head and went back to his game for the millionth time.

* * *

"Okay guys, let's face it. That sucked, like really bad."

"Tell me about it." Mike grumbled.

Finn rubbed the back of his neck, literally about to just give up on practice altogether for the day. They were thirty minutes into their rehearsal, and in those thirty minutes, the only thing they managed to succeed in doing was barely get through half of a song.

"Where the hell is Puck?" He snarled. Puck was 30 minutes late, and without the guitarist, how much could the band really even practice? He caught Rachel scoffing at Puck's tardiness in the corner of his eye.

As if he were right on cue, Puck strutted into the room with his sunglasses on and a smirk plastered on a face.

"You're late again, jackass." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Hey, hey. I have a good explanation."

They all groaned, none of them in the mood for another one of Puck's unbelievably ridiculous stories.

Puck snorted. "Fine you assholes, don't listen. In my defense, I was trying to get here as fast as possible to meet my lady friend here." He motioned for Rachel to come over, and a big smile instantly grew on her face. Of course, Finn knew it was all a lie though, and could barely keep his laughter inside. He threw his arm around her. "This is my hot Jewish princess Rachel Berry, although you all probably already know her cause she's a Broadway star, duh."

She giggled. "I've already met them Noah, Finn introduced me earlier."

Not only was it super awkward when Mike and Sam had first come in and seen Rachel lounging around with Finn, it was also a hell of a lot explaining to do. Obviously the pair had first suspected something going on between the two, but they quickly denied any of those claims and continuously insisted that they were just friends, and she was actually just waiting around for Puck to show up.

Puck smirked as he walked over and picked up his guitar. "Watch us practice. Trust me, when I'm with this guitar, I'm a total hunk, babe."

Rachel sat back down, and watched the band attempt to practice one of their newly written songs. Needless to say, even with their guitarist finally here, it still sucked.

Finn scowled, frustrated with the way today's practice was going. "This is not working. Something is totally off here."

"I don't know, it sounded okay to me." Sam shrugged.

"Are you kidding me? That was fucking awful." Puck threw his hands up in the air. "I must say, my performance was pretty spectacular. The rest of you sounded like shit."

Finn glared at him, ready to throw his drumstick at him by this point. "Puck, you aren't helping."

"Guys?" They turned to see Rachel was watching them, intrigued by their performance. "I honestly think the instruments were fine, all of you were great on that part. But the vocals are lacking something."

Puck made a face, annoyed since "vocals" just pointed towards him. "Are you trying to say I suck?"

Rachel laughed. "Not at all babe, but maybe someone else should give it a go."

"Whoa. No way." Mike backed away slowly. "I'm nowhere near confident to sing in front of someone with as amazing of a voice as you, let alone in a recording studio to sell a song to millions."

Rachel blushed, flattered by the compliment. "How about you Sam?"

Sam shook his head. "No thanks, I'd rather just stick with electric and the sexy dance moves me and Mike have got going on."

"Okay… well, Finn?"

Finn looked at her, puzzled, trying to figure out what she was playing at. He had always wanted to try singing for once instead of Puck, but he didn't ever want to volunteer and end up screwing up and embarrassing himself either.

"No way, I've always been the voice and that's what I'm going to continue doing." Puck interjected, clearly annoyed that all of a sudden, she was butting in and basically telling him he sucked.

"Look, Noah. You have a nice voice, but I don't think this song really suits you." She pointed out. "So, how about it Finn?"

"I'm not sure…"

"If anything, try singing along with me for now, at least." She suggested. "I'm sure it'll be great." Rachel beamed as she pushed Puck out of the way to grab the mike, and tossed the other one to Finn, who caught it just in time. "Hit it boys."

At first, Finn was nervous and his voice felt shaky. After all, he usually only sang in the shower, where the only audience in earshot was usually just the wall, and occasionally his mom. Eventually, he eased into the song, moving along to the beat. He found himself actually enjoying singing with Rachel. She had a powerful, confident voice, which did intimidate him, but it was also really nice.

When the song came to an end, he caught himself smiling at her, silently thanking her for convincing him into it. It had been such a thrill performing, and it seemed that the other guys were pretty happy too. Mike and Sam clapped their hands together, clearly pleased with the result.

"Wow. That was the best we've done in a really long time." Sam marveled thoughtfully.

"Your voice is great, Rachel." Mike added, smiling happily. "Maybe you could join us in just this song? You know, when we actually record it?"

Rachel smiled back. "I'd love to, if that's okay with Finn. I have my Broadway shows and own albums, I surprisingly don't want to hog the spotlight and take it away from him."

Finn shook his head, laughing. "No, it's fine, Rach. I'll admit that it was actually really great."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Okay fine, Finnessa. You were pretty awesome." He curled his hand in a fist, stretching it outward for Finn to bump, grinning as they pounded each other. After doing so, Puck went back to putting his arm around Rachel. "Thanks babe, you saved us."

"Well, I can't take all the credit. Finn has a pretty nice voice. I know how to find talent, I'm pretty talented myself." They laughed, surprisingly enjoying the company of drama queen, Rachel Berry. "How about we hit it again from the top?"

They all nodded in agreement, and went back to practicing. Finn couldn't help but stare at Rachel, who really looked like she was enjoying herself. Singing was what she did best after all, and he felt something strange inside him, along the lines of pride and happiness, getting to sing along with her.


	4. Friendship?

**This chapter was a lot of fun for me to write, but it also bummed me out too. It took me all day to figure out where exactly I wanted things to go, and I ended up introducing (probably) my last main character in this story. I love her a lot in Glee, but let me warn you, just like in the show, she's a bit of a bitch. ;)**

**Please leave a review on whether you liked the length of this chapter, and if you liked the direction I pulled the story in! I would love feedback, because I think I might be taking things a bit too quickly but my mind is in complete Finchel-land, so I wanted to push them together as fast as possible. It took all my willpower to not end this chapter in the middle of it all with a heated make out session, trust me.**

**Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, but it would be pretty great if I did.**

* * *

Finn flicked the bottle cap across the table for the millionth time, not interested at all in what Puck was saying. He just nodded and murmured yeah, in reply to whatever his friend was saying.

"Dude, didn't you hear me?"

He glanced up to see a look of excitement on Puck's face. Clearly whatever he had been saying this entire time had really hyped him up.

"No, but let me guess. It was about some chick you met." Finn sighed in annoyance. Puck was too predictable.

Puck looked around the café to make sure nobody was in earshot before smirking in reply. "Well yeah, I just really wanted to get lucky one last time before this whole Puckleberry shit is set into stone."

"Puckleberry?" Finn couldn't help but laugh at how atrocious the couple name sounded.

"Yeah, Puck and Berry. Don't know where the hell they get _Puckle_ from though. Seriously the lamest name ever, right? There's Bradgelina, Jayoncé, and we get stuck with Puckleberry." Puck grumbled. "We could probably print the word on a freaking smoothie stand and people would legitimately think it's a new flavor or something."

"Cute."

It took a lot for Puck to resist punching that damn smirk off of Finn's face.

"Kurt showed me a couple of magazines this morning, and turns out they're already beginning to print stories on our supposed relationship, I didn't even know it was possible to get these published so fast." Puck shrugged. "We've only been on like what, two or three dates, and you've been with us on all of them. Those paparazzi folk really do pounce on everything first chance they get."

After their first "date" didn't end on the best terms, with Rachel getting like food poisoning and ended up crashing at Finn's house for a night, the other two had gone pretty well surprisingly. Rachel insulted Puck less and less, the more time they spent together. Or maybe it was because she tried to avoid talking to him altogether, unless they absolutely had to. Ever since his conversation with Rachel the other day, along with the fact she practically saved their asses in practice, Finn had personally been trying to be nicer to her and secretly wished Puck would do the same.

Lost in his train of thought, he snapped back into focus when Puck smacked him hard on the arm.

"So anyways, I met this really hot chick and I'm gonna bring her to our little group date tonight. Be a good wingman, will you?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to be fake-dating Rachel, remember?"

"Doesn't hurt to have one last night of fun before it's official." Puck smirked.

"Whatever, as long as you don't mess things up. Just make sure you don't blow your cover bro."

"Don't worry about it, I've got it all under control. Just back me up and make me look good, which won't be too hard of a job. I always look good."

Ignoring him, Finn decided to send a text to Rachel, informing her about Puck's slight change in plans, as well as wondering where they were going tonight. The three of them had agreed to switch off who made the decision of what they were doing on each date.

To his surprise, she answered pretty quickly.

"I see Noah's being disgusting as usual. Ew. And I think I wanna go to this karaoke bar tonight. Don't worry, I've been there a couple of times, it's pretty nice, and there's plenty of alcohol for you boys."

"Okay. And by nice, I'm guessing you get standing ovations there pretty often?"

":)"

He smiled to himself as he went back pretending to listen to Noah's slightly crude, but shockingly kinder than usual, description of the girl he'd be bringing along with them tonight. It turned out he was pretty into her. Finn wondered if he'd find someone like that soon, someone he could go on and on about. Sure, a smokin' body is a plus, but he wished he could find someone to connect with on a different level too, meaning someone he'd actually feel comfortable talking to all the time, no matter what their conversations were about. But honestly, there wasn't much hope. Girls usually saw him as a good ride for the night type of guy, not someone they were interested in for anything more than just sex.

* * *

Finn groaned, sliding further down in the driver's seat. Yeah, Rachel always looked good, but she certainly also always took a long time making sure of it.

"Berry always does this." Puck complained in frustration. "Seriously, thank god we're not actually dating. I'd probably go check into rehab again myself, from going insane."

Finn chuckled at the thought of her constantly ordering around her boyfriend, with her excessive need to be dominant and dramatic. "Well it's not as if we can make her get there by herself, she said something about it looking better if she arrives straight at the place with her supposed boyfriend on her arm. It's more press worthy that way."

"Well in a few days there won't be any need for suspicion, since we'll be clearing it all up by finally announcing our relationship." Puck sighed. "Almost two weeks down, about five and a half more months to go."

"I can say that I'm not gonna miss having to go on dates with the two of you anymore. It's pretty annoying having to make sure you either don't drink too much or try something stupid while you're with her. I only agreed to drive tonight cause you seem to be really into this chick you keep talking about, and I guess you've earned a few drinks tonight."

Puck grinned and leaned forward, patting him on the back. "Thanks for having my back, bro."

"It's nothing you haven't done for me at clubs and stuff in the past." Finn shrugged him off.

At that moment, Rachel finally walked out of the building and opened the car door. After three dates, she still refused to sit next to Puck when they were in private.

"Hi Finn." She smiled at him. She looked back for a second, to nod at Puck. "And hello Noah."

Puck nodded back. "Sup babe?"

Rachel cringed in disgust at being called babe by him, but her face brightened up as she began talking. "I'm actually looking forward to tonight. Karaoke is so much fun, I can't believe neither of you have tried it before."

"Yeah well, if you're like me or Puck, you're usually too wasted to bother getting on a stage, and forget about singing." Finn smirked.

"Right. Well that's gross, so ignoring that, Noah where's your lady friend Finn mentioned to me?"

Puck turned to Finn, annoyed. "You told her?"

Rachel snickered, turning to face him. "Don't worry, I'm totally fine with it. We're not actually dating cause we haven't confirmed anything yet, so it wouldn't really be too suspicious, especially if I'm with you guys at the place."

"Sweet. Anyways she's meeting us there, I think you'll agree with me when I say, she's one hot lady."

Rachel shrugged, not pressing any further on the matter. She was excited for the night, and not even Noah's womanizing antics would bring her mood down.

* * *

Finn pulled up in the parking lot, and soon after, they were barely able to keep up with Rachel in her excitement. She was practically running to the door, clearly having missed the comfort and thrill of performing in this place. He found that her excitement was as contagious as her smiles were, and almost ran after her.

She was waiting for them at the entrance, a huge grin plastered on her face. This was honestly probably the happiest he's seen her while she's been with the two of them, even Puck had to comment on it. "Well don't you look happy tonight, Berry?"

"I'm telling you, this is going to be so much fun." She said, continuing to grin.

They made their way into the place called Callbacks, and immediately Finn sensed a light-hearted atmosphere, where you could either kick back, eat, and just relax by listening to whoever was singing, or get on stage and perform your heart out. He looked around and saw an average heighted blonde, waving Puck over to take a seat in the booth she'd waited for them in. He had to hand it to Puck, she was a pretty sight.

Puck slid right next to her, ready to pull out his entire collection of pick up lines and smooth moves, which left Finn and Rachel to sit across from the pair. Finn noticed during this entire time, the girl had been eyeing him interestingly, which immediately got him wondering whether she was really into Puck after all.

"Finn, Rachel. This is Quinn."

Rachel smiled warmly at her, clearly not too interested in whatever affairs she had with Puck. Finn just managed out a quick "hey", before picking up a menu to figure out what to order. Quinn continued to stare at Finn, and he began to feel uncomfortable under her gaze. He promised Puck that he'd help him get the girl, and even though she looked stunning and all, he honestly wasn't interested in her either.

He just decided to focus on having a good time tonight, beginning with food selections. "Hey, Rach. What's good at this place?"

"I'm not sure, usually I'd go for a salad but we all know how that decision turned out for me that night." The two of them shared a laugh, feeling a bit nostalgic as Finn remembered the very first outing the three of them had shared.

"I'm honestly just craving sweet potato fries." She added.

"Awesome, so am I."

Rachel grinned. "We could share a plate of that I guess, but I'm warning you, I'm pretty hungry tonight."

"That's just your excuse to eat most of it on your own, isn't it?"

She answered with a mischievous smile, as she picked up her menu to figure out what entrée she wanted.

"I thought you were dating Puck, Rachel?" Quinn suddenly brought up.

Puck shook his head vigorously. "No way, we're just really really good friends." He denied. Eventually he'd have to fess up that the two of them were technically going out, but he really wanted to have a good date with Quinn, possibly ending in something more than just karaoke and dinner.

Quinn raised her eyebrow, not taking her eyes off of Finn. "Puck tells me a lot about you."

"Me? There's not much to know about me sweetie."

"There's always more than what meets the eye though." Quinn smiled.

Puck shifted uncomfortably, wondering why the hell Quinn was so interested in Finn all of a sudden. "Hey, babe. What do you wanna eat? Or even just drink, if you'd prefer."

She ignored him and went back to her menu.

A waiter walked by, flashing his pearly whites at the group. "Hey, welcome to Callbacks. You guys want anything to drink? I can grab it straight from the bar for you."

Before Rachel could open her mouth and order, the man's face suddenly broke into a huge grin. "Oh god, you're Rachel Berry."

She smiled warmly at him. "A fan, I presume?"

"A fan? Are you kidding me? You're a freakin' legend here darling!" He laughed nervously. "Please, oh please, tell me you'll be performing something while you're here tonight. You have the voice of a goddess, Miss Berry."

"Thank you so much! And but of course, who do you think I am? That's the whole reason I came here!" She chuckled."But for now, could you be a dear and get me a Negroni?"

He nodded, and almost forgot to take the orders of her companions, too caught up in his own excitement. After grabbing their drinks, he nearly knocked them over placing them on the table.

"Oh I am so sorry Miss Berry. It's just I'm so nervous around you, do you mind taking a picture?"

"Of course not." She proceeded to get up and pose for a photo with the guy, and sat back down, clearly pleased by the fact she even had the waiters here starstruck.

* * *

"You look pretty happy with yourself." Finn commented, her expression still obviously full of joy.

"Wasn't he just the sweetest little thing? Oh I really do love all my fans though. I owe them so much. Don't you feel that way too?" She gushed, taking a few sips of her drink to calm down a bit.

Finn shrugged. "Of course I'm thankful for all the fans, but most of them don't stop me on the street to praise me for my drumming or anything. Usually I just hear people making comments about me behind my back, like whoa did you hear how wasted he got the other night?" He rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his drink also.

"Maybe if you stopped getting so wasted all the time, it wouldn't happen as much." She pointed out harshly. "But that is pretty rude, I'll admit."

"I don't care, I love having fans and all, but with or without them, I'm drumming and singing for myself in the end. I started it because I loved doing it, and I'm not gonna stop just because people hate my image."

Rachel's expression softened as she smiled at him. Something in his words had just touched her.

"Plus, what's the point in living without having any fun?" Finn smirked. "Sure I could do without a few club brawls and one night stands in my life, but the thrill of letting loose in a party's worth it. You should try it sometime babe."

Rachel's thoughtful face fell immediately, and she just rolled her eyes, wondering what food to order later. She noticed that Quinn had been staring at the two of them, without a word to say herself. She wondered why, but quickly shook the feeling off.

As the waiter came around again, she ordered a veggie burger along with a platter of sweet potato fries for the two of them. All this talking of food was making her mouth water, and she could vouch for the place that they probably made some of the best sweet potato fries in the city.

Tapping the table impatiently, her eyes wandered over to the stage, where she realized nobody was performing currently. Her lips pulled into a smile.

"Noah, do you want to sing something with me?"

Puck's eyes widened, bewildered as to why she even asked him in the first place. "Uh, no. Can't you see I'm busy right now?"

"No really, Puck you should go and sing with her." Quinn nodded a bit too eagerly. "I think it's a great idea, after all, you guys are GREAT friends, right?" Her eyes wandered back to Finn.

Puck shook his head, confused as to why Quinn wanted him to get up there with Rachel. "Thanks but no thanks, Berry."

Rachel's face fell, but then she turned towards Finn. "Would you sing with me then?"

Finn looked at her, unsure of himself. "I don't know Rach, I mean we sounded good together that day when we were practicing. But that was only in front of the guys, this is like in front of other actual people."

Rachel smirked. She could tell that Finn was nervous, but she thought that with just a little push, he'd be into it.

"Come on, Finn. You're telling me that you, the total bad ass, not caring what other people think of you and what not, are scared to get on that stage and sing in front of everyone?" She taunted him.

Quinn shot a look towards Rachel, but kept quiet.

Finn raised an eyebrow. Was she challenging him?

"Game on."

They walked to the stage, Rachel feeling triumphant, having convinced Finn to do a duet with her. "I get to choose the song!" She giggled, excited to sing. It had been a while since the last time she'd performed here, and the last time hadn't been so pleasurable. She shrugged the memory off, and thought of a song that she heard on the radio and was enjoying recently. She nearly ran over to the piano man, and whispered the song in his ear.

"So what are we singing?"

She just smiled in response and stepped over to one of the microphones, being met by extremely loud applause from everyone in the place.

When it finally quieted down, and not even entirely at that, she spoke into the mike. "Hi, I'm Rachel Berry! I'll be singing here with a friend of mine that you probably already recognize, Finn Hudson. Enjoy the show!"

She pulled the mike off the stand and swayed to the piano.

"The day I first met you, you told me,  
you'd never fall in love.  
But now that, I get you,  
I know fear is what it really was."

Finn quickly joined her, occasionally glancing back to check if he had the lyrics right.

"Now here we are,  
So close yet so far.  
Haven't I passed the test?  
When will you realize…"

"That baby I'm not like the rest."

"Don't wanna break your heart  
Wanna give your heart a break  
I know you're scared it's wrong  
Like you might make a mistake  
There's just one life to live  
And there's no time to wait, to wait  
So let me give your heart a break, give your heart a break  
Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break  
There's just so much you can take  
Give your heart a break  
Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break…"

They continued, barely even remembering that everyone had their eyes on them, too caught up in the moment of their voices intertwining in harmony. Rachel loved the way their voices went together, and she also loved how passionate he was when he sang. She'd never seen him this way, not even when they practiced together the other day, and she loved it. She looked up into his warm, soft, amber eyes, but still found how they managed to clearly display all that passion. She found herself smiling at him while she sang, and he gave her a real, genuine smile in return.

"The day I first met you  
You told me you'd never fall in love."

She ended the last note with a softer voice, completely lost in the way his eyes seemed to be staring at her as they finished the song. His eyes were really nice, she realized. She suddenly snapped back into reality when their performance was met by extremely loud applause and whistling, some people even wiping tears, clearly moved by their voices.

Rachel grinned and took a bow, motioning that Finn should do the same. She received standing ovations like these on a daily basis, people sobbing their hearts out because they were moved by her voice, and she learned to appreciate the wonderful bliss she felt because of it. It was only right that she got to share the incredible feeling with Finn also. He had a huge grin on his face that matched hers, soaking in all the cheers and praise from everyone surrounding them. For a while, they just stood there together, smiling. As the applause began to finally die down, she unknowingly found herself holding onto his wrist softly, leading him away as they walked off the stage together.

When they got back to their seats, Puck rolled his eyes at the pair, particularly Finn.

"You should really consider changing your name to Finnessa. Demi Lovato, really?"

Finn scowled. "Shut it, Puck."

"I thought it was nice." Quinn piped up, sending a glare towards Rachel, who had no idea why Quinn suddenly looked so angry with her.

"That was really great, Finn. I really don't know why you're not confident about your voice." Rachel reassured, giving him another warm smile.

He smiled back. "I don't know, but I can say that it felt really good tonight. You were amazing though, you really have a killer voice."

She giggled, interrupted by their food arriving just in time. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation for the plates of deliciousness set in front of her. If there's one thing Rachel learned after years on the stage, it was that there's simply nothing like good food after a great performance.

* * *

Finn finished drying his hands and tossed the paper towel into the garbage. Puck and Rachel had already gone into the car and were waiting for him, but he really needed to pee before they left. He smiled to himself as he thought of how the night went. It was simply fantastic, as Rachel had put it. They sang a couple more songs together afterwards, from the crowd's request, but he didn't mind. It was awesome. She was right in the end, they ended up having a great time after all. Well at least, he and Rachel did. Puck had a sour face by the end of the "date", as Quinn clearly had no interest in him whatsoever. When he walked out the door however, said someone was waiting for him. She stretched her arm outward, placing her hand against the wall to grab his attention, her arm barring him from walking any further.

"Can I ask what you're doing?"

Quinn batted her eyelashes at him. "What does it look like I'm doing? You're either the most oblivious guy I've ever met, or you're just really not into me."

Finn rolled his eyes, scoffing. "Look babe, you might be pretty, but I'm really not in the mood to deal with you right now, and I need to get going."

"I know Puck wants to get with me, but I'm really not interested in him." Quinn continued, ignoring his obviously irritated expression. "I only came because he mentioned you'd be there, and I've been dying to meet you, Finn. You're really hot when you sing, you know that?"

Finn snorted. Did she really think that was going to work on him? Maybe when he was extremely drunk at a club and needed some company, but most definitely not now. "You might've heard some incredible things about my one night stands and whatever, but let's get one thing clear. I'm not into you, so back off." He started to walk away.

"Is it because of Rachel?"

That got him to stop for a second, wondering what on earth she meant by that. He couldn't possibly like Rachel that way. That had to be a joke. Sure she had an incredible voice, really amazing eyes, undeniably attractive legs, and a sweet personality at heart, but she practically found him one of the most immature and repulsive people in her life, only behind Puck and who knows. Besides, it had been such a long time since he was in an actual relationship or even had feelings for a girl; after all he usually just slept with one and ditched her the next day. He just couldn't see himself ever doing that to Rachel. If he was interested in her, he would've made a move on her by now like he usually did to chicks he digged, right?

Whoa. Why was he even bothering to think so deeply about it? He shouldn't even be thinking of it, like at all. Soon, to the rest of the world, she would be dating his best friend, and he would be in no position to make a move on her. They were just friends. Yes, friends. That sounded right.

"No." He blurted out, a bit louder and more abrupt than he would've liked.

Quinn's lips tugged into a smile. "Then I don't see any problem with me doing this." Before he could say anything, she slipped a piece of paper into his pocket, patting it gently afterwards. "If you change your mind, do give me a call. I'll be waiting." And with that, she strutted away.

Finn stood there, in annoyance of the nerve she had to even bother. "Don't get your hopes up, sweetheart." He called after her. He sighed and checked his watch. It was getting late, and he really had to get going.

* * *

After dropping off Puck, Finn only had one more stop to make before heading home for the night. Rachel drummed her fingers lightly against the window, humming one of the tunes they had been singing together earlier.

"We were awesome, you know that right?"

Rachel grinned, nodding in agreement. "I meant what I said Finn, you have such a great voice."

Finn felt his cheeks growing pinker. Thank god it was too dark for her to see him clearly. "Thanks." He mumbled.

He pulled up to her building, but before she left, he felt he needed to properly thank her for dragging them out to Callbacks tonight, more specifically, dragging him onto the stage with her. "I really had a great time tonight, Rachel. Like, I really did. That's the most fun I've had in a long time."

Rachel stared at him in amazement. Where did the womanizing, alcohol addicted, bad boy she knew him as go? "Do you really mean that? Even more fun than those parties and clubs you said I should loosen up and go to?"

"Yeah." Finn found himself saying with a smile. He wasn't lying, he felt at so much ease with her around, like he didn't have to really put up a front, pretending to be someone else.

She beamed at his response, clearly moved by his confession. "I had a great time too, Finn. Have a good night!" Rachel hesitated before opening the door. "You know, when you're not deliberately trying to be an ass, you're quite the gentleman." Before he could do or say anything else, she leaned forward and cautiously but gently placed her lips against his cheek. And just like that, she was gone.

His hand made its way towards his face, as he traced the spot where she had kissed him. He was confused, but then realized he shouldn't be. A lot of girls kissed cheeks as a greeting or as a goodbye, right? It was completely normal. They were just friends. Friends. He watched her walk away, wondering what in the world had gotten into him tonight to make him feel this way about everything.

* * *

Rachel stood there in confusion, as she closed the door behind her and leaned against the wall. She slowly found herself sinking to the floor. Why had she kissed him? It's not as if they were anything more than friends, who sounded unbelievably fucking amazing when they sang together. Besides, in a day or two, she'd be going public with her "relationship" with Noah. No, kissing him was alright. It's not as if she full out placed her lips onto his, so it was okay, right? Friends kissed each other on the cheek now and then, it was totally fine. She sighed and picked herself off the floor. Whatever regrets she felt about what she did, it didn't matter. There was no changing the fact she still did it, so she'd have to live with whatever consequences it would bring. There probably weren't any, after all, Finn was the type of guy who basically saw women useful for a night or two before tossing them away. Or so she thought. Something changed about him in the car, that's why she had kissed him to begin with. Yikes, she was a mess.

Frustrated, she headed toward the bathroom to wash up a bit when she nearly had a heart attack turning the corner, bumping into someone who did not look happy with her at all.

"Santana! You almost killed me!" She screamed, clutching her chest, heaving deeply.

"Where have you been? You told me you'd get home an hour ago." Santana yelled back angrily, not bothering to listen to Rachel panic at her sudden appearance.

"We stayed a bit longer than I thought. Finn and I sang a couple more songs. And when I say a couple, I mean a lot more." Rachel admitted sheepishly. When she saw Santana's eyes widen, she held her hands up in denial. "The crowd kept pushing us to! We couldn't exactly turn them down!"

Santana shook her head. "You and Finn? Since when were the two of you so chummy?"

Rachel didn't know how to answer that. The true answer was that something just clicked between the two, and look how great of friends they were now.

Santana held her palm up as Rachel was about to open her mouth. "Never mind that, we have a bit of a problem on her hands. I was actually here to talk to you about… you and Finn." She shoved a laptop into Rachel's hands. "Read."

Rachel looked at her with confusion, and then turned her eyes toward the article Santana had pulled up. "Pictured above is Rachel Berry, 24, with Finn Hudson, 25, singing together at a New York City joint named _Callbacks_." Her eyes widened. "Recently Berry has been spotted multiple occasions hand in hand with so-called friend, Noah Puckerman, and always tagging along on their little dates was one Finn Hudson. Tonight, the trio, along with an unnamed female companion, was spotted enjoying themselves at _Callbacks_ where Berry and Hudson were found singing an emotional duet of Demi Lovato's _Give Your Heart a Break_, which left half the audience grabbing for their napkins, in tears by their performance. However, just a few minutes ago, sources tell us that management of both ND4 and Miss Berry has confirmed that Puckerman and Berry are indeed in a relationship, and have been seeing each other for nearly the entire past two weeks. But anyone who examines this snapped photo (shown above) even for the briefest second can see the true emotional chemistry that was shared between the two on that stage. Was Rachel Berry cheating on her man in front of his very own two eyes? And with his best friend, too?"

Rachel read through the article over and over, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. The comments only made her feel even worse, as she read them, one by one.

"Wow, we all knew Rachel Berry was a diva, but this is a little extreme even for her."

"Who knew she'd be fucking his BEST FRIEND behind his back though?"

"Save the drama for Broadway, Berry."

She looked at Santana for some form of help, but only received pity. The Latina felt bad for yelling at her before, and immediately embraced her in her arms. "It's okay baby, everything will be alright. I'm so sorry, it was such awful timing that the minute me and Kurt released the news to the public, that photo of the two of you showed up online too. I know we told you guys we'd be announcing it in a few days, but we thought it would be right. I mean honestly, maybe it would've been a better idea to set you and Finn up to begin with, since that's basically all the news is talking about right now, but it's too late now."

Rachel sighed, pulling away from the much needed hug, and talk. She wiped her tears and slowly shrugged. "There's nothing we can do about it now though, I'll just have to live with it."

"I mean there's really nothing online that could be taken seriously happened between you and Finn, and thank god nothing about your other... duets ... from later on in the night found their way online."

Rachel knew that hate was one of the other awful parts of being famous, but it was just something she had to learn to deal with. She'd received hate before, but it was overwhelming to get all of this piled on her at once, especially for something that wasn't even true.

"Nothing did happen between you and Finn, right?" Santana asked her suddenly, in a more serious tone.

Rachel subtly bit the bottom of her lip before answering. "Nope, nothing happened. We're just friends."

Santana raised a hand to her forehead, rubbing it gently. "Thank goodness for that then. Alright, me and Kurt will get to work cleaning this whole mess up, just relax a bit and take it easy."

Rachel nodded, walking over to the couch and lowering herself into it. She sighed, taking her phone out of her pocket and realized she had a new message.

"Kurt just yelled at me for a good fifteen minutes, but I realized you'd probably have it worse with Santana. Are you holding up okay?"

She held back her sobs for a moment and replied. "I'm fine. Santana let me have it for like a second, but then I just started crying and she felt bad for yelling at me, so she stopped. But yeah, I really am fine."

Her phone buzzed, she picked it up to read his reply.

"Okay, I just wanted to know if you were alright. I have shit like this written about me all the time, so it doesn't affect me. But I know you have that whole clean reputation thing going on, lol."

She felt a pang of sympathy for him, realizing she'd read half of the crap he was referring to, all the nasty things posted online and written in magazines about him. It must've been awful having to go through this everyday, along with all the stares and whispers whenever he went out in public, when in fact, he really was a pretty good guy. She felt her phone buzz again, and nearly felt her heart stop when she read it over.

"Why'd you do it?"

That was a good question. She didn't even need to ask what Finn was referring to, she knew. She took a deep breath before replying,

"Because we're friends, and isn't it okay for friends to do that? :)"

She was confused with herself, but she knew that the first half of what she sent wasn't a complete lie and she insisted that the second half probably wasn't a lie either. They were friends, after all. He would never want to be in a relationship with her, and she wasn't interested either. That's what she kept telling herself, until it eventually brought a smile to her face. She was Rachel Berry, and he was Finn Hudson. They were complete opposites that simply put, didn't go together that way.

He didn't reply for a while this time, which was strange since he he'd been answering pretty quickly before. She got up to change. In all the fuss that had been going on since she got home and met Santana, she'd forgotten that she was still dressed in killer heels and a slightly uncomfortable outfit.

When Rachel got back in much preferred shorts and a tank top, she unlocked her phone and felt her heart sink at his response. She didn't know why, after her little pep talk to herself, she was sure that everything was okay, but it still sank. She whispered the words to herself, hoping that if she repeated it enough times, she'd believe it herself too.

"Yeah, I guess it is."


	5. McKinley's

**Thank you everyone for your wonderful response to this story! It's the very first one I've written, and any support I read for it makes me feel a hundred times better for the day. I had a huge smile on my face when I realized it hit 50 follows today. Yay!**

**On a sidenote, I wasn't home all day and night yesterday, which explains the lack of an update. I did however, watch Lea's speech on my phone, and just wanted to mention how incredibly proud I was of her, and the entire cast, for getting up there and staying so strong. I myself sobbed for a good hour after watching the acceptance speeches, and realized writing Finn makes me feel as if him and Cory are still here with me, which makes me feel so happy.**

**One more quick thing - I hate Brody, sorry. Just had to get it out there. I think you all realized that when I made GYHAB a Finchel duet, which I much preferred than the canon Brochel duet in that heartbreaking episode. Yikes.**

**This chapter was quite a handful, I literally sat for hours pondering on what to write. I decided to back out of something I planned last chapter, after reading a certain review, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Glee, but if I did, Brody Weston would not exist.**

* * *

"She's all yours." Puck answered him simply, not even bothering to look up from a script he'd received for a commercial him and Rachel would be doing together soon.

Finn sighed, his intentions clearly not taken the right way, no matter how much emphasis he had put into his reasoning. "Again, I am NOT planning to sleep with Quinn. It's just that I don't have a date for Mr. Schue's wedding, and I'm going to look pretty lame if I show up without one somewhere for the hundredth time this month."

The band's manager, William Schuester was finally getting married. The wedding had been long waited for and, of course, Puck and Rachel would be going together in order to boost and strengthen their finally confirmed relationship to the media.

Puck responded with a shrug, not listening to half the words Finn was saying. "I really don't care bro. I mean she turned down the Puckmeister of all people. She must not be attracted to guys at all, because for God's sake, I have tons of chicks basically on their knees to get a chance with this."

Ignoring that note, Finn rolled his eyes and went back to picking at his food with his fork. Almost a week had gone by since he dropped off Rachel and she had kissed him on the cheek. He'd been going back to drinking heavily each night that followed, trying to think less and less of it, and was confused as to why his mind insisted on always wandering back to the warm touch of her lips against his skin. The more he tried to forget about it, the stronger the memory seemed to come back each time. The only thing he could do was drink until he tuned everything out, so he wouldn't have to think at all.

To make matters worse, it was almost as if the brunette was purposely avoiding him. She hadn't responded to his last text that night, and he barely got a chance to see her afterwards. The only seconds where he even caught a glimpse of her face had been when she came over to drag Puck off on another date. Kurt ensured that the two would never come into even the slightest contact in front of prying eyes if he could help it, or in his own words, "over my dead body".

It was true that Rachel was the only female friend of his, but that's because most of the girls he came into interaction with were just "friends" for a night before he sent them off with cabfare the next morning, never to cross paths again. Truthfully, he liked hanging around with her, a lot. She seemed to bring out a side of him he thought he'd buried long ago, the night he left behind his stepdad and mom in Ohio to chase his dreams, with Kurt and Puck by his side the entire journey. But now it was hopeless to have even a simple conversation with her without it being blogged about worldwide and labeled as a possible affair.

Finn shrugged the feeling off, frustrated that he found himself thinking about the matter yet again. They were just friends, weren't they? Since that's the case, it probably wouldn't be too hard to find a new friend in someone else, right?

He felt a hard smack against his head, for what felt like the millionth time this week. "Hey, Hudson. You keep zoning out lately, what's the matter with you?" Puck narrowed his gaze, troubled by his friend's behavior. "You haven't been like this, lost in thought all the time, since your girlfriend dumped you like eight years ago in high school."

"Don't. I barely even remember her name." Finn scoffed. High school felt so long ago to him now.

"Sure you don't." Puck laughed as he walked over to the fridge, grabbing two beers. He tossed one over to Finn, still annoyed with himself that he'd been thinking of Rachel yet again. She didn't matter to him, and clearly he didn't matter to her.

"Well, I do remember she had a sweet body." Finn replied, wondering what his pathetic excuse of an ex-girlfriend was up to now. Back then, she'd been a controlling lunatic, constantly shutting him down for his desire to be a performer. In fact, if it hadn't been for Puck's little intervention, he'd probably be sitting somewhere bored, typing out numbers all day.

"I think I got into bed with her once back then. I've seen better." Puck remarked, thinking back to their high school days.

"Even back then you were a crazy player, Puckerman." Finn laughed, shaking his head at his best friend.

"Hey, it wasn't very long until I got you out of that witch's claws, and into the lovely way of life I like to call, kicking back and doing whatever the fuck you want, aka, living like a rockstar, living the dream."

Listening to Puck's words, Finn felt a slight wave of sadness hit him, his mind wandering back to what Rachel had said to him in the car before she had kissed him. He nodded carefully, forcing a smile to show his agreement.

As Puck's phone screen lit up, a groan escaped his lips. "Santana just ordered Berry to have the two of us go out tonight, but we just went out yesterday. It's been so much more annoying without you there, cause now it REALLY has to look like I give half a crap about what she's saying." Then his eyes suddenly lit up, his lips curving into a playful smile. "Say, why don't you join us tonight?"

Finn's eyes widened, unsure what to do. "Uh, Kurt basically said he'd kill me before I go anywhere with Rachel again. He said the first mess was already more than enough for him and Santana to clean up."

Puck snorted, taking a sip out of his can before setting it, along with propping his feet, onto the table. "Since when did we give a damn about Kurt's little rules? Didn't stop us before, won't stop us now."

Finn hesitated for a moment. It didn't help that his mind was suddenly racing at the prospect of meeting Rachel again.

"Come on." Puck whined. "It's my choice for our destination tonight, and I say we hit up our favorite little hot spot, McKinley's. If anything, you can bring Quinn along so you won't be too bored after a few drinks."

It didn't seem that Puck was going to take no for an answer, so Finn just sighed in defeat while Puck grinned and patted him hard on the back, letting the subject drop, and focused back on his script.

Finn grimaced at the thought of being possibly hounded by reporters at the entrance of his thoughts on Team Puckleberry or, even worse, being hounded by Quinn all night while inside, but he decided that he was getting desperate to talk to Rachel, and it seemed it was coming to the point that this would be the only way he'd be able to do so.

* * *

Rachel had been fiercely arguing the entire past 15 minutes with Puck, as to why he insisted on dragging her along to some precious club he loved so much that night. When she had complained to Santana earlier however, the Latina had only glared at her in response, still annoyed about the entire Finn fiasco she had to clean up.

"Really Noah, in case you haven't noticed, clubs are not my style." Rachel snapped.

"Well sappy karaoke bars aren't mine." Puck shot back. "I sat through that whole night, so why don't you stop being such a diva and just try to enjoy this?"

"Because your choice of location is as revolting as you." She angrily responded, in no mood to spend the entire night being hit on and grinded on by complete strangers who all smelled like alcohol.

Puck rolled his eyes, not even phased by her insults anymore. "Well your choice was as boring as you. Stop overreacting, it's not even going to be that bad. Besides, I know for a fact that you do happen to drink, so princess, take a few shots and you'll be thanking me for dragging you out here in no time."

"That'll happen when pigs fly. I mean if you yourself sprouted wings and flew into the sky, it'd still pretty much be the same thing." She said, slamming the door in frustration as she walked out of the car. Rachel waited for Puck to get out too, and slipped her fingers loosely into his as he guided her towards the entrance.

All of a sudden, she froze in place when she saw who was waiting for them at the entrance.

"Why is Finn here?" She hissed into Puck's ear.

"I invited him." He said, confused as to why she tensed up so suddenly. "Sorry, slipped my mind to tell you."

Rachel's eyes quickly scanned his body up and down. She had to admit, his grey sweater with his sleeves slightly rolled up somehow made him look even better than usual. As her gaze moved upwards, her eyes met with his, and she caught herself feeling smothered by the warm, amber orbs, as they stood there, each mesmerized by the other's gaze. Slowly managing to look to his left however, she snapped out of it as soon as she realized that there was a shorter blonde clinging onto his arm, desperately seeking his attention.

It seemed that the moment Finn realized where her gaze had fallen to, he quickly shook his arm out of the girl's grasp, his eyes still glued on the sight of Rachel. She quickly shifted her eyes away, trying to ignore him.

"Hey Quinn, great to see you again." She managed to get out, smiling at the other girl.

"Hi Rachel." Quinn responded, with a genuine, warm smile.

Puck rolled his eyes at the two, walking over to slip an arm around Rachel before opening the door for the two to enter together. Finn quickly followed after the pair, barely even registering that Quinn was still by his side, irritated by his sudden behavior.

Rachel nervously fiddled with her necklace, as she took a seat next to Puck at the bar. He ordered a long island iced tea for her, insisting that she lighten up.

"Look, I'm not that awful." Puck laughed, eyeing her fidgety state. "Seeing you like this kind of makes me feel sorry I dragged you out here, but you're here now. At least try and have some fun."

"I don't really drink those, they get you drunk pretty –" Rachel started, not in the mood to drink herself sick that night.

The sight of Finn approaching cut her off, as she held her breath, silently pleading that he wouldn't sit next to her. Of course, he did, with Quinn following angrily to sit beside him.

"Hi Finn." She briefly acknowledged him, trying her best to ignore him, as she turned back to continue talking with Puck.

Puck drowned down about three or four beers, before he eagerly stood up and took Rachel's hand. "Do you want to dance?" He asked, smiling at her suggestively, to which she rolled her eyes and quickly snatched her hand back away from him.

"Fine, baby. Maybe later, I guess." Puck smirked as he walked away, leaving Rachel to panic as she realized that as annoying as Puck was, she didn't know anybody else at the place. Well except…

"Let's dance." Quinn demanded, drunk from her own drinking binge from the night, literally attempting to drag Finn onto the floor with her.

"No, and you smell like booze. Go find someone else to ask, I'm sure many other people would love to dance with you." Finn snapped, wondering why on earth he listened to Puck on inviting her.

"Fine, you're right. I'm pretty enough to dance with whomever I pick out of this place." In her drunken state, she didn't bother fighting him on the subject any longer, sneering at him as she walked away in a huff.

"And that's what I like to call, an angry drunk." Finn rubbed the back of his neck, flashing Rachel one of his adorable half smirks, in hopes she'd finally talk to him.

Darn his cute smirks.

Rachel ended up laughing, taking a sip of her drink. Finn decided against drinking for now, he didn't need Rachel to go right back to her awful impression of him when they first met.

It was loud and crowded in the club, and Rachel noticed that nobody paid the two much attention here. Everyone was either too drunk to realize who they were, or they just didn't care. As much as she hated to admit it, Rachel kind of liked it.

She kept thinking of his cute half smirk he always did when he was around her, just the sight of it practically made her melt. His hair was slightly ruffled, and whenever he ran his fingers through it, she couldn't help but stare as he did. And then there were his eyes. Whenever she looked into them, it was hard for her to really look anywhere else, or even think for the matter.

"Rachel? Earth to Rachel?" Finn repeated, trying to grab her attention.

"Hmm?"

"Oh good, you kept staring off somewhere."

Rachel laughed nervously, slowly twirling one her curls. "Yeah, I don't know where I was staring off to either."

"Well, I was just saying how I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Rachel raised an eyebrow, hoping he wouldn't bring the whole affair headlines into the conversation or, even worse, the kiss.

"Uh, nothing specifically. I just missed talking to you." Finn smiled, looking adorable again.

"I missed you too." She admitted, continuing to play with her hair. "Isn't Kurt going to kill you for being here?"

Finn grinned, running his hand through his own hair again. Quit staring, Berry. "Of course, but when have I ever cared much for rules?"

Rachel scoffed, instantly unmoved by his pompous attitude making its return once again.

He smiled at her, his eyes gleaming from the surrounding lights in the place. "I think it's pretty worth it this time though."

She felt her heart skip a beat, forcing herself not to look directly in his eyes. Those little amber jewels were literally her kryptonite.

"We should try this whole friend thing again."

"Of course." She murmured in agreement, still dazed from his previous comment. "Friends." She nodded, as if she was trying to make sure of it herself, and took another long sip of her drink. It sure was one hell of a drink.

"So how's your week been?"

"It's been alright, Santana's been bitching to me for half of it about how I shouldn't see you again for the next two months if there's a camera in sight. She thought I was in love with you or something." She rolled her eyes, at emphasis on the word love.

"Isn't that funny, Kurt said the same thing to me." Finn watched her laugh, as if she found the very thought of it so hilarious and absurd.

"For what it's worth, I think you'd be a better boyfriend than my ex." She sighed, and immediately covered her mouth. Wait, why'd she just say that again?

His eyebrows furrowed, curious as to what she was talking about. "What? Me? Most people see me as someone who'd be the worst boyfriend on Earth, and I wouldn't disagree." He smirked.

"Nah sorry, last place definitely goes to Brody Weston." Rachel's lips trembled at the thought of him, remembering the painful fact he'd been cheating on her for the majority of their relationship and she'd caught him in bed with that wench too.

Finn stiffened at the sight of her being absorbed by her own sadness. "What happened?"

There was a long silence before Rachel opened her mouth to speak again, clearly troubled just by thinking about him. "I just asked him to move in with me, and a week later, I came home to catch him in bed with his blond bimbo he never bothered mentioning to me." By this point, she was on the verge of breaking into tears, but she held herself back. Rachel had moped for a good month over their break up, before deciding he wasn't worth any of her time, and wrote a nasty worded but hit selling single about him. Things turned out for the best after all.

The warmth in Finn's eyes faded, replaced by a much hotter fury. "What the fuck? Look, I know I don't treat girls too well, and I'm not proud of it, but if I had a girlfriend like you I would never ever go behind her back just to sleep around with some meaningless chick. Hearing what you said makes me feel sick, and it just makes me want to pound his face in over and over again for what he did to you."

She watched him in amazement of how defensive he had gotten, all for her behalf. Also, as much as she hated to admit it, she was a bit turned on when he got angry. Biting her bottom lip, she dared to ask. "Do you mean it?"

"Hell yeah I do." He firmly assured her, his anger with this Brody still evident on his face.

Rachel's eyes began to water, as she wiped away a tear in reaction to what he said. Needless to say, she felt pretty emotional all of a sudden.

"Are you crying?" The tone of his voice softened at the sight of her tears, and suddenly rose up in anger. "If you give me the address of this guy, I can always make a trip and beat the shit out of him for you."

She smiled at him, placing her hand over his to calm him down. It worked like a charm, as he visibly relaxed at her touch, although Rachel almost felt like she was melting into his.

"Thank you. Nobody ever defended me like that before."

His cheeks turned noticeably pinker, as he looked away. "It's nothing."

Rachel realized that her hand was still resting on top of his, and gently, but reluctantly, pulled it away.

"You're sure you're okay though?"

She nodded, with a smile. "I'm sure. I only regret that I realized too late that I was much better without him anyways. Thank you for caring though, how very un Finn-like." She giggled.

"It's weird that we haven't known each other too long, I feel like I've known you so much longer." Finn added, his gaze still fixated upon her own eyes. "I mean you got me to open up about something I never thought I'd tell anyone too, that's something. And I thought I was special when I chugged like eight beers down and didn't throw up."

She laughed, not even scolding his disgusting remark at the end. "Well I'll be back, I have to head to the bathroom." She quickly stumbled on over to the ladies room, suddenly finding herself in a desperate urge to pee.

After washing her hands and ensuring that she still looked nice in the mirror, she walked out and spotted some girl waltzing right on over to Finn. The girl was a lot taller than Rachel, even taller than Quinn. Rachel noted that the girl was hotter than her also, by far. She decided to stay put, to watch the pair of them. The blonde was trailing her finger against his chest, leaning over to whisper something in his ear, to which he didn't respond to. His eyes wandered over to the restrooms, where he spotted Rachel with her eyebrows raised, looking at the two with great interest.

Feeling her face heat up, she decided maybe she'd join Noah on the dance floor after all, and she easily found him in the middle of it all, clearly beyond drunk and looking like he was enjoying himself. Maybe it was the Long Island that was talking in her, but with a sly smile, she wrapped her arms around his waist, surprising him from the back.

"Dance with me?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.

"I thought you'd never ask." Noah grinned, turning towards her. Her mind was beginning to fog up, and she honestly had no idea why she wanted to dance with him so suddenly after seeing Finn with that… girl. She didn't know if she was upset, not that she even had the right to be. It had only been a few minutes into their dancing session, and she found that she was somewhat enjoying herself. It was fun to feel so loose and free sometimes.

When she thought she had pushed the thought of Finn out of her head for good, someone grabbed her on the shoulder and yanked her close towards their own body. "Hey what gives?" She protested, annoyed that someone had interrupted her little moment.

She looked up angrily, her gaze softening as she focused in on the warmth those amber eyes always had her going crazy for. "I –" It was only then she realized how close their bodies really were, her hands were placed against his chest, which she noticed was nice and firm, while one of his own hands still had her by the shoulder and the other was wrapped around her waist.

"Why'd you run away, Rach?" He asked her carefully, with genuine curiosity in his voice.

She looked away, confused herself. Why had she run away?

"I don't know."

"There had to be a reason, Rach. Tell me." He insisted, refusing to let go of her until he heard an explanation to her abrupt departure. "Not to mention, into Puck's arms? Really? I thought that you thought you were way better than that." He smirked.

A voice piped up, insulted by the remark. "Hey. I'm still here."

Finn rolled his eyes, giving his friend a twenty. "Here, go knock yourself out again."

Without having to be told twice, Puck wandered away, his eyes gleaming at the thought of another few shots.

Rachel hesitated, wondering if it was really worth telling him. "Forget about it."

"Seriously?" Annoyed, he quickly pulled her away to a quiet room in the back he'd often used to go to for private make out sessions, but those were all in the past. "Now, tell me."

"No. Now let go of me, so I can go back and enjoy myself." She turned away before he grasped her wrist, just tightly enough that she couldn't walk out of the room.

"Why are you being so fucking stubborn? It's obviously something that's upsetting you, I'm not stupid Rachel. I know you had a bit to drink, but wandering off to the safety of Puck's arms is definitely not something you'd normally do." He snapped, frustrated at her persistent attitude. "And who are you to get upset because of me anyways? It's not like we're dating or anything, so I really don't know what in the world you expect of me, _friend_." Finn sneered, adding emphasis to the last word.

Rachel fought the tears threatening their way back out. But more than sadness, she felt anger pushing it's way up too.

"No, you listen here, Finn Hudson." She snarled, surprising Finn who slowly backed away from her. "You have no idea how I'm feeling right now, and to tell you the truth, I feel like complete shit. Sure, people love my voice and my talent, but nobody tells me I'm beautiful, or even smokin' hot. In fact, I almost gave up on Broadway because everyone always insisted I didn't have the looks for it. Even my own ex boyfriend almost pushed me into getting a nose job, and even breast enhancements. I'm always second to everyone in this city, because my looks just don't cut it, ever. That's why Brody went fucking with some blonde, because she was way prettier and hotter than I'd ever be." Rachel screamed, tears full out streaming by this point, but she didn't care anymore. "Maybe if I'd just listened to him before, he would've stayed with me." She sank down to her knees, angrily wiping away her tears.

Finn stayed silent, as she buried her face in her hands. The room was quiet, with only the sounds of her sobs echoing throughout the silence. Minutes went by like this, and she was ready to just get up and leave by this point, utterly humiliated by the guy, when she felt hesitant arms wrapping around her body. She instinctively tensed up, confused at first, but then melted into the touch. She allowed her head to rest gently into his chest, continuing to sob. He was rubbing her back by this point, in an attempt to calm her down, but stayed silent.

She finally raised her head away from him, feeling guilty for soaking his sweater with her tears. "It just hurt because, I mean she was tall, and blonde, with a huge chest, and unbelievably thin, and so, so hot in any guy's eyes, and then there's just little old me." She managed to get out through her sobs and sniffles, her make-up undoubtedly ruined and her eyes puffy and red. Her hair was a complete mess, having been shaken all over the place, and some of the strands were wet and tear streaked. She looked disgusting, and in shame she turned her head away, hiding it from his view, so he was unable to see her face.

Instead, he did something that completely took her off guard. He moved his free hand toward her face, cupping it while gently turning it so her eyes directly faced his, and looking straight into her wet, mascara streaked eyes, he whispered, "You're beautiful."

She was startled by his words, unsure if she heard him correctly. His eyes continued to bore into hers, lit up with surprise as well, as if he himself was in as much shock by what he said as she was. The frustration from his eyes was long gone, and back was the familiar warmth and comfort she always found. Her lips slowly parted into a smile, and although she found herself still shaking from her sobs, she kept smiling.

"Thank you, Finn." She heard herself whispering back, her eyes glued onto his. They sat there on the floor, neither of them daring to move. Time went by, for what felt like hours, until eventually his hand found its way to one of her tossed curls, gently playing with it.

"Why don't we get you cleaned up and back home?" He simply said, with a smile.

Rachel shook her head, her eyes immediately lighting up with fear. "No, Santana's there for the night, I think. Something about work and Puck and…" She frowned, closing her eyes in an attempt to think straight. Then she hesitated before asking something she immediately regretted. "Can we go to your place?"

She felt Finn tense up under her touch, and she wondered why in the world she had even thought it would be okay to ask. "I'm so, so sorry, listen forget about that, I'm so stup–"

"Sure."

Rachel's eyes widened, wondering if she really just heard Finn Hudson utter the word she thought she did.

"I mean, yeah, of course you can."

Without further warning, he stood up and offered his hand to her with another one of his half smirks. She took it gladly, feeling a bit dizzy as he helped her stand up.

"Wait, Puck and Quinn." Rachel sputtered, completely forgetting about the people they'd originally arrived with at the beginning of the night.

"I'll call Kurt, don't worry about them. I don't even care how much trouble I get in by this point." He murmured softly, as she clung to his arm for stability, the two of them walked out, and when they finally reached fresh air, she took in a deep breath of it.

"I don't think I'll be coming back anytime soon." She joked, wincing at the debacle of a night.

Finn laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't even drink tonight, which I never thought I'd hear myself saying, but I don't think I'll be either."

* * *

After taking a long shower to clean herself off, Rachel had changed into one of his old high school shirts with a pair of his boxers again, and he couldn't help but smile at the sight of her as she walked back into the living room. He was thankful she hadn't gotten completely drunk, because that would've been a handful, but she definitely had enough of that stuff for her head to hurt a bit.

"Hi." She squeaked, as she made her way to the couch, sitting down next to him.

"Hi." He smirked at her, feeling his heart skip a beat at the sound of her voice. He never realized that even when she talked, it was so… pretty. "Since you wanted to come over, you can decide what we're doing for the rest of the night."

She thought for a moment, scrunching her face adorably as she was lost in thought. She opened her eyes and beamed, in a mischievous manner, and he groaned.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes."

Rachel grabbed the remote before he could even reach for it, turned on Netflix, and skimmed through the selections before quickly finding her choice with a grin.

"Funny girl?"

"You're going to love this movie."

"You're funny, girl." He tried to crack a joke, and received a glare that told him he was better off not trying. The music began, and she was thrilled, clapping her hands together in excitement. A few minutes went by when he noticed that she began to shiver, and he immediately got up to grab a blanket from the other room, and returned to drape it over her small body.

"Aren't you cold, Finn?"

Finn shrugged. "Nothing I can't deal with, I'll man up."

She shook her head, and to his protest, she moved her body as close as possible to his in order to wrap the blanket between both of them. He could feel her slightly stretch her legs out on the couch comfortably away from them, and he could smell the sweet aroma coming off in waves from her hair.

He realized as the movie went on, that she was slowly drifting off drowsily, and, for the sake of her comfort, he gently moved her head to rest against his shoulder. In response, she simply moved her head even closer.

"Goodnight, Finn." With a smile, she closed her eyes and went straight to sleep. Every breath she took, he could feel beside him. He simply stared at her, lost in her beauty, and he still found himself unable to believe that she didn't find herself attractive.

Finn suddenly felt panic building up inside of him. What had gotten into him? He hadn't told a girl she was beautiful for over eight years, and he honestly couldn't even remember if he told his last girlfriend, all the way back in high school. The only time a girl had ever stayed over at his apartment for a night without ending it in sex was when he had to bring Rachel over a few weeks ago. Not to mention, he hadn't pulled a single sleazy move on her all night, in fact he only came to the lousy "date" to make amends with her, desperately wanting to talk to her again.

When she'd gone on and on about Brody, he truly wanted to stalk out of there that very moment to find the little punk and beat him to no end. He hadn't paid attention at all to the girl who was hitting on him, only wondering when Rachel would be getting back. When he saw the hurt that flashed in her eyes when she spotted the chick hitting on him, he immediately ran over to find her, to talk to her. When she finally revealed her deepest insecurities, all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms forever, until she felt better about herself and realized how amazing she really was to him.

He'd never felt this way, about anyone before. Not even any of the girls he dated back in high school, it just didn't compare. He felt his hand making its way up to his heart, as he watched Fanny belt out another number about love, and he felt terribly confused with this feeling. But the second he glanced back at Rachel's peaceful expression, he knew. He knew what it was.

Holy crap.

He whispered it to himself, gazing longingly at the sleeping brunette.

"I like Rachel."


	6. Wedding Bells

**Yes, it's finally wedding day for Wemma! This is the fun of writing AU's and just fics in general, I literally get to do whatever I want. ;)**

**Thank you for your kind reviews, not to be too pushy, but please do leave one after reading this chapter! I actually do read them all, in search of feedback, and if you suggest something, I will more than likely take it into high consideration while writing.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! I know I definitely did while writing it. :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, nor the song presented in this chapter.**

* * *

In a shock, Finn fell forward, straight off his bed and planted straight onto his face, at the annoying beeping sound coming from his alarm. He stayed there lying on the floor, with a groan escaping his lips. He hadn't gotten up this early since who knows when, but today was the wedding rehearsal, and tomorrow would be the actual wedding. If he was even a minute late, the bride, Emma Pillsbury, would most likely attempt to strangle him.

It had been approximately four days since he came to the realization that he liked Rachel. He wasn't able to see her for even a single moment after she bid farewell and left his house, since Santana and Kurt refused to let the two to be left alone even in the same room. When he had called Kurt to pick up Puck and Quinn that night while Rachel was taking a shower, to say that Kurt threw a fit was an understatement.

* * *

"_Finn Christopher Hudson, why on earth did you show up to the date in the first place, not to mention, left with Rachel on your arm and ditched Puck?" Kurt was practically screaming into the phone, and Finn's right ear was beginning to throb from it._

_Wincing, he stayed silent, unsure how to answer. Regardless of what he said, he would still be in huge trouble with his very angry brother._

_He heard a sigh from the other end. "Really Finn, I'm just confused as to why you'd go through so much trouble for her. It's not as if you have feelings for her, you made your answer clear when you yelled at me for thinking of such a ridiculous idea, but there's no other explanation for your irrational behavior." Kurt continued, fed up with his brother's antics. "If things like this keep going on, and are misunderstood by the public, you're going to screw this whole fake relationship business up for everyone, not only for the band, but for Rachel too."_

_Finn felt a pang of worry hit him after the last few words. Kurt was right, for every time he went anywhere with Rachel, he was also easily putting her career and credibility on the line for the sake of his own worthless desire for a friend._

"_You're right." He muttered into the phone. "I promise I'll listen to you from now on."_

"_Good. Now, stay the hell away from Rachel Berry for the next five months. That's all I have to say." Kurt ordered. "Honestly Finn, she's a great girl, and if you're interested in sleeping with her for a night and sending her away the next, you should know that she's so much better than that. If you wanted a one night stand, why don't you find one somewhere else instead of –"_

"_I don't want to sleep with her." Finn cut him off, double checking that Rachel was still in the bathroom. He did have to admit that a lie lay discretely beneath what he had said. Of course he wanted to sleep with her, fulfill his dirty fantasies with her, explore her wonderful, sexy body, lie in bed all night with their bodies intertwined, and have the pleasure of waking up right next to the beauty that was Rachel Berry. He wanted all of that, and so much more._

_No, Rachel deserved better than him. She was beautiful, intelligent, kind, and caring. What was he? Finn was seen as nothing but some good fun for a night or two, sometimes he had trouble taking in all the big words that Rachel seemed to constantly use, and he was certainly never sweet or nice to anyone, with the exception of her of course. Why he was so nice to her, he still had yet to figure out about himself._

_He eventually hung up on Kurt, too tired to deal with his rambling on and on about what he'd ought to wear to Mr. Schue's wedding. Finn stared at the bathroom door, wondering what on earth he did to deserve such a great friend like Rachel, and decided he'd have to do whatever it took to keep her reputation a clean slate._

* * *

Rachel was sitting in the front row, having the gigantic auditorium to herself for a couple of minutes, as she had arrived much earlier than the rest of the cast. She was reaching the end of her runs with _Funny Girl_, and as memorable and truly astounding the experience of getting to play Fanny in the revival had been, she knew it was time to start searching for possible follow-ups to move on to.

She was looking through an audition script for _Wicked_, specifically requested to consider playing the role of Elphaba, which had been something she'd been dreaming of since she was a child. Suddenly she felt someone turn the next page for her, which caused her to jump forward out of her seat from surprise.

"Oops, I didn't mean to scare you."

Rachel looked up at the intruder, instantly feeling rage build up inside of her threatening to explode as she met a pair of ice cold, blue eyes.

"Why are you here?" Rachel demanded, almost allowing her fist to connect with his face in order to wipe that disgusting smirk off his face.

Ignoring her question, Brody snatched the script right from her hands, to her protest, and glanced at a few pages.

"Thinking of auditioning for Elphaba?"

Rachel quickly grabbed it back, wondering how he even got in here. "Yes, not that it's any of your business what I do or don't audition for anymore."

Brody rolled his eyes at her pettiness. "Still mad about our break up, I see."

"In case you don't remember, I dumped your ass because you were in bed with some blonde tramp it turns out you were with nearly the entirety of our so called relationship." If looks could kill, Brody would've probably melted under the heated fury contained in Rachel's glare. He simply waved it away with a flick of his hand, laughing.

"Well you've sure captured any anger the character has to display." Brody chuckled, as if Rachel's anger didn't affect him even the slightest bit. "Ah yes, Cassie. She was… interesting. I must say that you are most definitely, by far, better though."

Rachel felt her cheeks heating up from a mix of humiliation and anger. "What do you want from me, Brody?"

Brody took a step toward her, causing her to slowly back away from him. "I want you back, Rachel."

"You're kidding me, right?" Rachel scoffed. "You're out of your mind if you think I'll take back your cheating ass, even if you personally came crawling back on your knees shit eater."

Brody raised a hand to his heart mockingly. "Ouch, Rachel that sure hurt."

"Shut up, and get the hell out."

"Look, I want you." He repeated, not even budging at her words. "And I know you can't resist me, because as much as you think you're over me, I know you're secretly not."

"Didn't you hear my single, _Cheater_? In case you still haven't realized, that song was written specifically about and for you, because that's all you're ever going to be. You're a fucking cheater, and I will never, ever get back together with you." She growled, fiercely shoving him away from her. "Haven't you heard? I have a boyfriend anyways."

Brody let out a long laugh. "I've heard of your new friends alright. That constantly drunk buffoon Puckerman, that always makes a fool of himself, punching photographers, yelling at waitresses and what not, or his freakishly tall companion who's almost as big of a loser as he is? You've stooped pretty low after me, Rachel."

Rachel's narrowed her eyes at the mention of Finn, and absolutely resented the way Brody had just described him to her. "What did you just call Finn?"

"Didn't hear me the first time around? He's a total LOSER, and soon that foursome of Neanderthals will find themselves tossed on the streets with no future, because their music is absolute shit and he drums as if he's handicapped." Brody challenged with emphasis on every new insult he thought of. "He's brainless, even test monkeys have higher IQ's than him, although his lack of brain cells are probably from drowning himself in alcohol every night. It would explain why the tramps he hangs out with every night are as unattractive and unflattering as –"

Rachel never got to find out what exactly Brody was comparing Finn's lady companions to, because next thing she knew, she had punched him square in the face.

"I told you to get out."

Brody was on the floor, grabbing his face and glaring at her, secretly ashamed that he had just gotten beat up by someone so much smaller than him.

"What the hell, Rachel?" He hissed. "I heard you were dating Puckerman, yet here you are punching me in the face for insulting Frankenteen."

"He's a good guy Brody, and much better of a person than you'll ever be." She snapped, as people began to trail into the place for rehearsal and noticed Brody withering on the floor in pain. He quickly got up, still clutching his jaw, as his expression softened a bit and he gave her a sly smile, as if he seemed to catch onto something she didn't.

"Well, let's just say, I'll talk to you soon Rachel." He smirked and walked off, leaving Rachel distraught, in confusion, and definitely in no mood to practice today. She sighed, feeling tears furiously making their way out of her eyes. She wiped at them, but smiled knowing she'd stood up for herself and Finn against him much better than she thought she would, but his suspicious departure left her wondering what exactly the creep had in store for her now.

* * *

Finn fixed his tie, nervously glancing at his reflection. He tried his best to make his hair look nice and presentable, running his fingers through it. Today was finally wedding day, and as truly happy as he was for Mr. Schue and Miss. Pillsbury, he couldn't help but feel excitement at finally getting to see Rachel again. They had texted each other a couple of times (cause that's what friends do) but that was the extent of their minimal contact, and he found himself missing her a lot.

After checking himself in the mirror one last time, he was out with Kurt, on his way to pick up Quinn. He felt kind of bad about ditching her in the nightclub along with Puck, and decided to make it up to her by bringing her with him to the wedding, as friends. She agreed, but something about her seemed to have changed ever since that day, as if she wasn't so interested in Finn anymore, which he had no problem with at all.

When the trio finally arrived at the church, Kurt and Quinn were in awe of the wonderful decorations and beauty the place displayed specifically for the wedding. Finn on the other hand, was busy scanning the entire sanctuary for a certain brunette, who was nowhere to be found.

"Wow, those dresses are gorgeous." Kurt noted. "Emma made a wonderful choice, it's a light shade of pink, but not too pink to take attention away from the bride, not that I'm afraid of that happening." He chuckled. "I'm sure she looks even more beautiful."

Quinn took in the lovely and beautiful aura she was receiving from the room, her eyes wandering around in delight as she noticed Emma had done such a fantastic job ensuring every last detail was perfect. "This is how I want to get married." She declared, smiling at the thought of her own perfect little wedding.

"Don't we all, honey." Kurt let out a laugh, before realizing that Finn was frequently gazing around the room, appearing as if he was quite lost. "Finn? Why do you keep looking around like you're searching for something?"

Finn hesitated, before shrugging his brother's worry off. "It's nothing, just a bit nervous for Mr. Schue I guess." Kurt didn't seem to buy the excuse one bit, shaking his head.

They took their seats all the way up front, as the rest of the invitees began to walk in and take theirs. Finn fidgeted impatiently, knowing that any moment now, Puck and Rachel would be making their entrance, and hopefully end up sitting next to the three of them. He insisted that they save the two seats next to him for the couple, as Kurt simply rolled his eyes, not bothering to argue and ruin the joyous occasion.

He felt a light tap on his shoulder, and he looked back to see Mike and Sam, along with two girls he didn't recognize.

"Hey man, who's your date?" Mike inquired, pointing towards Quinn.

Quinn and Finn both shook their heads, laughing. "Just a friend of mine, actually more of a friend of Puck's I guess. Who are these lovely ladies?" He gestured towards the two girls taking their seat next to them.

"This is Mercedes, a friend of mine." Sam grinned, as the dark skinned, slightly plump but still pretty girl smiled at him in turn.

"And I'm Tina, Mike's girlfriend." The Asian girl spoke, smiling sweetly at the both of them while holding tightly onto Mike's hand.

Finn winked at Mike, to which he slightly blushed, but he really was happy for his friend.

Caught up in greetings and introductions, he hadn't noticed the two people walking down the aisle arm in arm. They were walking confidently, smiling at one another, as if today had been their own wedding day. Finn turned his head to see Rachel and Puck walking towards them, and he immediately felt his palms begin to sweat a bit, and his eyes widened at the sight before him. Rachel was wearing a stunning, strapless light blue dress that fit her body ever so nicely, hugging her curves in the best way possible, and her hair was lightly curled but put up in a loose bun revealing her bare shoulders. Her eyes had lit up at the sight of him, and the dress seemed to make her wide, gorgeous brown eyes stand out. The second her eyes met his, she seemed to blush a slight shade of pink that Finn found to be so adorable.

He took a deep breath as she took a seat next to him, giving her a smirk that seemed to deepen the color in her face even more. Score, Hudson.

"Hi." She had said the word so softly, it could've been a whisper.

"Hey." He answered, lost in her lovely, inviting eyes gazing right back at him. Her eyes always reminded him of smooth, melted chocolate, and whenever he looked into them, he'd see small flecks of chestnut and amber dancing about from the reflection of the lights. That, along with the perfectly framed, long eyelashes she curled and innocently batted ever so often, was more than enough to drive him up the wall from insanity.

Ever since he came to terms with his feelings for Rachel, he thought about her more and more often, but also examined and analyzed every little feature about her. To others, it was probably really creepy, but he couldn't help it. It seemed that all it took was just a simple look from her and his mind would go completely blank.

"It's a beautiful chapel." She gushed, suddenly looking about at her surroundings.

He'd heard her say "beautiful", and could only think of her.

"Yeah." He murmured in agreement, not completely sure what they were talking about.

"Hey dude." He came back to reality, trying extremely hard to avoid Rachel's eyes at all costs, in order for him to think properly with a clear head.

Finn smirked at Puck, who seemed completely out of place and uncomfortable in his suit and tie. "Nice to see you cleaned up." He also couldn't help but notice that Rachel and Puck's fingers were intertwined, their hands tightly clasped together, and he tried not to show how much this little act was bothering him inside.

Puck scowled, giving him a dirty look before returning to a more pleasant expression. "Can't believe Mr. Schue's finally getting married, about time too."

"Yeah seriously, his ex-wife is a total nutjob." Sam piped in. "Hey Rachel." He acknowledged the brunette, who gave him and Mike a friendly wave.

"Oh, you brought Quinn." Puck wiggled his eyebrows, causing Finn to roll his eyes.

"It's not like that, and I think I told you that about a million times."

"Sure bro, whatever you say."

Finn leaned closer, until he whispered. "I wasn't the one dancing with her all night though."

This caused Puck to freeze for a second, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Finn laughed and suddenly realized how he'd been leaning over Rachel's body, causing their bodies to be in close proximity of one another. He quickly pulled away, feeling his face heat up as he turned back to talk to Mike and Tina about their new relationship.

A few minutes passed by as everyone exchanged laughs, stories about their week, and even Quinn had eventually felt comfortable to join in the conversation. A cough came from the front, causing silence to be brought all over the room.

"Let us all rise, as the bride and her family is making their entrance."

Excitement was running through the room, as everyone stood up and turned to the side, looking back and craning their necks to get a better look at the people walking through. Will was standing still as a statue, his eyes gleaming in anticipation, awaiting his bride at the altar.

After the first few people had finally made their way to the end of the aisle, a young woman in a beautifully designed white dress, with her ginger hair tucked neatly beneath a thin and simple veil, began to slowly make her way into the room. Her dress was dragged just the right amount behind her, as everyone held their breath, watching the pretty bride take every little step towards the man she loved. When she'd finally reached him, the look on his face explained it all; there was no need for words.

Needless to say, the rest of the ceremony went pleasantly well as the young couple exchanged their vows to be together, to be one, for the rest of their lives. After confirmation from the priest, they finally shared a beautiful, long lasting kiss that received much deserved applause and cheers from everyone in attendance. Even Finn felt a bit moved after watching the two finally receive their happy endings, though he couldn't help but shift his gaze towards his right, only to realize that Rachel was staring right back at him.

* * *

"That was a lovely wedding, don't you think?" Quinn smiled, with no ulterior motive or intention behind her words. Finn realized that without the whole trying to seduce him thing, she was a pretty cool girl.

"Yeah." He answered honestly.

"Do you ever think of how yours will end up?"

Her question had him taken back a bit. "Huh?"

She laughed. "I'm not trying to hit on you or anything, so relax. It's just, do you ever think about your own wedding? Like how beautiful of an expression your bride will carry with her, when she walks toward you, vowing to be yours for eternity. Or maybe how excited you'll be going through every little last detail before the wedding, until it's seemingly perfect, fitting to both of your hearts' desires."

Finn let out a laugh too, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nah, I haven't really given much thought to marriage yet."

Quinn sighed. "I guess that's because you're a guy and all. But don't you at least ever find yourself wondering if you've already found the one though?"

"The one?"

"The love of your life." Quinn continued, her normally sparkling hazel eyes were now dull, filling up with sadness as she stared off into space. "Maybe you've already found them, but you just don't know it's them yet. And sometimes when you do, they don't. It's pretty frustrating, isn't it?"

Finn hesitated at her words, as he looked straight ahead and watched as Rachel laughed at something Puck had been saying, his arm loosely wrapped around her waist. He began to feel the same melancholy feeling that he saw in Quinn's eyes as he watched them together, seeming to have a fun time.

"How do you know for sure though? If you think you've found them, how do you know that they're the one?" He turned to her suddenly, only to immediately question why he was asking Quinn of all people.

Quinn continued staring ahead, and he tried to follow her gaze to pinpoint what exactly had caught her attention for so long. She shook her head, as if to wake herself from trance, before turning back to Finn. "I think it depends on how you deal with things personally. I mean if you find yourself sacrificing everything, changing yourself into a better person, always thinking about them, and feel like you're losing your mind all because of that one person, they must be pretty damn special to you, no?"

Finn stayed silent, his mind still on the small brunette clinging onto Puck's arms, wishing he could walk over there and wrap her in his own.

Yup, he was definitely falling head over heels for her.

But as much as he hated to admit it, Quinn was also right about something else. What if you think you've found the person, but they don't agree with you? He buried his face in his hands, letting out a groan as he realized what exactly he'd gotten himself into.

* * *

Rachel was on her second glass of champagne, attempting to appear interested at Puck's seemingly never ending story about his amazing experience playing video games the other night. Earlier she had taken a quick glance around and realized many of the guests were staring at the two of them, so she couldn't afford to make a bad move and put their "relationship" into jeopardy.

However, she also couldn't help but let her eyes occasionally wander over to meet a pair of gorgeous amber ones, right across the table from her. Rachel found herself thinking more and more about Finn, as well as feeling mesmerized by the whiskey tainted warmth of his eyes for even longer and longer.

The reception had been incredible, full of delicious, high quality food and drinks. There were tons of people dancing, and even Puck made Rachel go out on the floor once to show off their moves. Eventually she formed a lame excuse of how she was feeling quite tired and worn out from the day, and wanted to sit back down, although it was more because she felt Finn's eyes boring into the back of her head while she was up with Puck, a feeling she couldn't bring herself to ignore, and she preferred sitting down to sneak a few peeks at his own eyes anyways. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she sat down, Puck and Finn excused themselves for a moment as they walked toward the stage.

A rather tall man made his way to the microphone, tapping it impatiently in order to gather everyone's attention.

"Hello to all. We sincerely hope you're all enjoying yourselves at today's reception held in honor of the matrimony of Will and Emma. Now, the lovely couple themselves will be sharing their first dance as husband and wife, and performing will be none other than ND4. We hope you enjoy."

Everyone clapped, and Rachel watched as Finn whispered something into Puck's ear, who only rolled his eyes in response, and nodded in approval to whatever Finn had said.

"This one's for all the lovers in the room." Finn announced, and then he winked. She felt her heart racing as she averted her gaze downwards, feeling as if she could've just swooned right there and then. She felt dizzy, and it was all because Rachel could've sworn that he'd been looking directly at her. No, focus Berry. You're definitely hallucinating, or had too much champagne, because there's no way he just winked at you. No, no, no.

To her amazement, when she looked up his eyes were still fixated in her direction, and their eyes locked together for a few seconds before Rachel caught her breath again, deliberately looking away from him.

As the music began playing, she perked up in interest when she suddenly realized that the voice singing didn't belong to Noah. In fact, it belonged to Finn.

_Tale as old as time_  
_True as it can be_  
_Barely even friends_  
_Then somebody bends_  
_Unexpectedly_

_Just a little change_  
_Small, to say the least_  
_Both a little scared_  
_Neither one prepared_  
_Beauty and the Beast_

She found herself unable to move, enchanted by the sound of his voice singing one of her favorite songs as a little girl, and she could feel the emotion he put into it longingly tugging at her heart.

_Tale as old as time_  
_Tune as old as song_  
_Bittersweet and strange_  
_Finding you can change_  
_Learning you were wrong…_

Rachel had to snap herself out of it, but the song was really beginning to overwhelm her. Finn seemed so magical up there, she honestly had no other way to put it. The music seemed to put her into a trance, and to make things even more difficult, his eyes refused to pull away from hers. Biting her bottom lip, she realized the song had finally ended as she tore her gaze away from Finn and regained the ability to move again, standing up and clapping for their beautiful performance.

Why was she feeling this way?

Rachel knew the answer, but she pushed it out of mind as Quinn seemed to notice her verge of insanity. She quickly gave her a smile, sitting down and turning away from the guys as they were preparing to sing another song.

"Is something wrong?" Quinn finally spoke up, still holding her gaze on the other girl.

Rachel nodded, still biting back her bottom lip, and her mind definitely still thinking about the song Finn had just sung.

Quinn gave her a knowing smile, shaking her head and hesitantly placing her hand on top of hers. "Rachel, you may be a fantastic actress, but I know for a fact that you're definitely far from okay right now."

"No, I'm fine, really. I have no idea what you're talking about." Rachel insisted.

"Rachel." Quinn's voice turned a bit stern as she addressed her, as if she was a mother scolding her daughter. "I know we haven't known each other for too long, but you don't have to try and hide what you're feeling from me right now."

"What feelings?" Rachel asked, completely confused as to what Quinn was talking about.

"Well for starters, you turned all moon-eyed the minute Finn Hudson got on that stage and opened his mouth." Quinn giggled. "You're clearly in love with the guy."

"I am not!" Rachel protested. "I am FAR from it, actually."

"Really? I don't think you know exactly how moon-eyed I mean…"

"I'm dating Puck." Rachel was secretly thankful how helpful that excuse could be.

"Well, you certainly never look at him like that." Quinn retorted, her voice dropping a bit of her cheeriness at the mention of Puck.

Rachel sighed, twirling her hair between her fingers. "I don't feel anything for Finn other than friendship."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, pursing her lips before responding. "I don't know Rachel, it seems to me you might be lying to yourself. Finn's really not that bad of a guy, maybe if you took a chance on him and stopped telling yourself you like Puck, things would work out." She finally said. "Sorry, brutal honesty's kind of my thing."

Rachel stared at the girl in front of her, who seemed to be in more relationships in a year than she'd ever been in. It was strange how easily she'd gotten into her mind, for someone she'd barely known for more than a few weeks, and only talked to for a couple minutes at a time. However, she realized that Quinn didn't know the full truth. If only it were as easy to leave her "feelings" for Puck behind. "No, it's alright."

Quinn managed a smile, before making a soomewhat painful expression. "Good to hear. Now, I'll be right back, I really have to head to the bathroom." She let out a chuckle, quickly skirting across the room in search for the ladies room, leaving Rachel alone with her thoughts.

She was quickly shaken back to reality however, when Tina grabbed her by the shoulders. She'd met the girl a few hours ago, but she seemed genuinely very sweet and a good fit for Mike. "Hey, Rachel! Bouquet toss is about to start, and I know it's usually meant for single girls, but I just wondered if you wanted to join in, just for fun. I know I am." She giggled.

Rachel smiled, secretly agreeing how true the word "single" was in terms of labeling her. "Sure, why not."

She walked over to the crowd of girls eagerly waiting for Emma to toss the flowers into some lucky hands. It was impossible to head to the front by this point, or even the middle of the crowd. She decided to just stick her luck by staying all the way in back, sighing at her luck.

"Alright girls, here I go!" Emma Pillsbury, or rather, Emma Schuester let out a squeak before throwing her bouquet in the air, every girl nearly knocking down every other; after all, it was every girl for herself.

Rachel rolled her eyes, mockingly stretching out her arms, closing her eyes and imagining what she would've said if she could've caught it. All of a sudden however, she felt something fall in her hands, and she cautiously opened her eyes to realize that she, Rachel Berry, had indeed caught the bouquet. Her eyes widened, ridiculously stunned at the unbelievable sight before her. Nearly everyone had their eyes on her, noticeably Finn, still on the stage, smiling at her.

Slowly people clapped for her, as she sheepishly grinned to herself. At least that was one thing she could finally scratch off her bucket list.

* * *

She was exiting the bathroom when she felt someone lightly tap her on the shoulder. She looked up and met Finn's adorable smirk, and her face began to heat up. How was it that he managed to get this reaction out of her, every single time?

"Hey you." She said cheerfully, flowers still in her hand.

"Hey yourself." He replied smoothly, staring at the bouquet. "I thought the whole bouquet thing was only for single ladies."

She laughed at the irony of the situation. "You know I'm technically still single."

Instead of laughing along however, he simply leaned closer. "Of course."

She fiddled with her necklace, something she always did when she was nervous, which meant it was also something she found herself doing frequently when Finn was around.

"You were really great tonight. In that first song." She managed to confess, not daring to look up at his face.

"Thanks." He simply answered.

She quickly tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "I think Puck, Quinn and Kurt are waiting for us downstairs, we should probably get going." She took a few steps back, waiting for him.

He hadn't bothered moving. "Do you know who I was singing it to?"

"Quinn?" She laughed nervously.

He let out a chuckle before replying. "I think you know."

"I – I really don't." She admitted, although she began to have a sneaking suspicion there was only one person it could be.

He merely smirked at her again, causing her to feel like melting there and then.

"Guess?"

"Miss Pillsbury? Or rather Mrs. Schuester?" She suggested hopefully, trying to hide her face from his view.

He laughed in response, walking closer to her again. "Guess again."

She held her breath, her knees about to give out. Rachel was beyond irritated that Finn had this easy effect on her body, as if he held her under some spell.

Well, there was no use beating around the bush anymore.

"M… Me?" She finally whispered.

He stayed silent, and only leaned even closer, as he slowly lowered his head toward hers, until that the only distance separating their foreheads was a mere few millimeters.

He hesitated for a moment, before it fully hit her as to what exactly was happening. She began to panic, trying to figure out a way out of it, but before even a word could leave her lips, they were sealed. The second that their lips touched however, she found herself smiling into it, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and she found hers wrapping themselves around his neck. His tongue brushed gently against her bottom lip, as she parted her mouth.

Eventually they pulled away for air, and she found herself aching for him to lean down and kiss her again.

"Does that answer your question?" Finn whispered.

Rachel didn't know where to start, confused as to what exactly she was getting herself into. This was all one huge mess, and she had no idea how she'd be able to fix it. The kiss had left her breathless, literally. At first, she thought of dramatically scrambling away from him, running away as fast as she could. But her legs couldn't bring herself to it, and she realized that if she did that, she'd still have to face him sooner or later. For now, she knew what she wanted. At that very moment, all she knew and wanted was Finn, and nothing else mattered.

"You can kiss me again, if you want to."

"I want to."

And with that, she leaned into him even further, instantly forgetting all her troubles and worries again as she melted into the touch of Finn Hudson.


	7. (Don't) Take Me Out to the Ballgame

**As always, thanks so much for your kind reviews! Reading them always brings a smile to my face. It's even better when you leave feedback, little things like what was your favorite scene, or what I could work on.**

**Enjoy! And please leave a review after reading if you really, really enjoyed it. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Glee, as you can clearly tell since Brody Weston was actually a real character. Ew, right?**

* * *

"Have the two of you kissed yet?"

Rachel's head immediately shot up at the mention of the word kiss, her eyes widening. "Huh?"

Santana narrowed her eyes at the sight of her sudden confusion. "Have you been listening? I asked if you and Puck have kissed yet."

Rachel cringed at the mere thought of planting her lips onto Noah's. She knew she'd have to do it eventually, she had just hoped she could push the disgusting idea away until maybe it'd go away for good.

"No." She admitted, with a shudder, knowing exactly what Santana was about to say next.

"That's great, all the more reason for you to do it tomorrow." Santana ordered smugly, not bothering to hear what Rachel had to say in return.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, not great, not at all. I don't want to lock lips with Puckerman, or have a hundred different people taking pictures of it either."

"Too bad, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you agreed to this, Berry." Santana shrugged, popping a piece of chicken into her mouth.

"Need I remind you that you signed me up for this without my approval to begin with?" Rachel sighed, poking at her fried rice with her chopsticks, not in the mood to eat. She was still thinking about the night of the reception, the warm pleasure she'd received by surrendering to Finn's soft lips, not to mention the fact she'd been able to experience the wonderful bliss not only once, but twice…

No, this kind of thinking had to stop.

As sweet as Finn had been to her the past couple of days, she knew that this entire situation was getting messier and messier each second she involved herself with him. Besides, she didn't _want_ to get involved with him anyways. He would only end up hurting her in the end, just like Brody. At least, that's what her mind couldn't help but turning to every time she began to think of the possibility of them being together.

No, they couldn't even be together! What was she thinking?

The Rachel Berry the rest of the world knew her as, was in a committed relationship with Noah Puckerman, not mooning over the chance of being with Finn Hudson. Besides, she couldn't take the risk. She didn't even want to begin to think about how everyone would react if someone happened to come across her face crushed against Finn's, not Puck's.

This kind of thinking really had to stop.

"How was the wedding, by the way?" Santana asked.

"Oh, it was nice." Rachel replied, shoving a few vegetables into her mouth in order to avoid further questioning. She gave a smile, showing everything Puckleberry related was totally under her control, when in fact, things couldn't be any more of a mess.

She felt her phone vibrate, and she took one look at the home screen and quickly pressed the lock button before Santana could manage a glimpse at the person who'd sent the text. Santana didn't seem to notice, too engrossed with her own phone, probably chatting with a girl she'd mentioned she was interested in.

Making sure that Santana paid no attention to her, she unlocked her phone, holding her breath as she opened her messages.

"Whadddupp beautiful? :)"

She tried to stop the smile threatening to make its way on her face. He'd been trying to contact her in every way nonstop, ever since he dropped her off after the reception, making sure to say goodbye with a huge smirk on his face.

"If Santana sees who I'm always busy texting, you'll probably have to attend my funeral soon."

She looked down to see he had quickly responded.

"Oof, I guess that's really a risk not worth taking. It's too hard to stop myself from talking to you though. ;)"

Rachel let out a sigh. How long was this going to go on? Sure she found herself sort of liking this playful and flirty banter going on between the two these past few days, but they weren't exactly dating or anything, and she needed to make sure they didn't end up that way. I'll only get hurt in the end, she repeated to herself.

Unfortunately for her, she felt herself being tugged toward that direction, and she didn't put up a good fight at all.

Brushing her bangs away from her face and noticing Santana turning her attention away from her own phone, she quickly dropped the phone into her lap and went back to eating, trying to push the whole Finn situation to the back of her mind, at least for now.

* * *

When Finn had finally found the guts to kiss Rachel, the instant his lips had met hers, he had quickly ascended to cloud nine. Kissing her was just such a heavenly experience; there was honestly no other way to put it. He smiled, unknowingly raising his finger as he traced his lips, remembering how surprised but completely willing he had been when she told him to kiss her again. He finally received the chance to wrap his arms all around her, leaning into her addictive touch, the warmth he found from her lips, and it had been definitely worth the wait.

Now the only problem was, he wanted more. He wanted to do this with her everyday, every night, and he wanted more than for her lips to be on his, he wanted them all over his body. Equally in desire, he wanted to explore her body with his own lips and hands, from her unbelievably long legs all the way back to her adorable nose. He didn't want to just have sex with her, in fact, he wanted so much more. He wanted to make love to her, hear her scream his name all night as she'd plead for him to give more, look into her loving eyes as he'd hold her beautiful, entirely naked body in his arms all night long until he'd drift off to sleep…

He groaned, completely aroused by the thought of Rachel's body underneath his, and his arousal was quite evident by the appearance of his little friend down in his jeans.

As much as he physically wanted her, and trust him, he really really did, he also wanted her as an actual girlfriend. He loved talking to her, whether it be about how Kurt and Santana were being total pains, or something serious like memories of her growing up with her dads, or him growing up with his mom and finding a brother and father when he least expected it. In a span of four days, he found himself loving her even more than he already thought he could.

It had hit him more than just a couple of times though, that she might not feel the same. He sure thought she did, with her totally kissing him back passionately and asking for another kiss and all. But even though they'd talked a lot through their phones the past couple of days, he hadn't had a chance to sit face to face with her since that night, and he was kind of nervous about meeting her again.

What exactly were they though? Friends? No way, not after those awesome kisses. Were they dating? They had talked a lot the past few days, but he decided they weren't exactly there yet either. He came to the decision that when he saw her again though, he'd figure out how to get the two of them alone for a few minutes to ask her. Yes, she'd know what they were. And maybe he'd ask her to be his… you know, girlfriend. That sounded good.

He glanced over at his clock. 3:47AM, when had it gotten so late? He found this happening more and more often recently, totally into his thoughts about Rachel and losing track of time. Finn smiled, thinking of her beautiful, million-watt smile, wondering when exactly he'd get to see her again. He couldn't wait.

* * *

Finn fell off his bed with a loud thud for the second time in nearly a week. He glanced up and read the clock. 9:32AM. He groaned, wondering who in their right mind would be up this early to pay him a visit.

To his annoyance, the doorbell rang again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He yelled, grumbling as he slowly stood up and made his way towards the front door. He opened it, midway rubbing his eyes to get a clearer look at his visitor.

"It's 9 in the morning Kurt, what the fuck do you want." He growled. "You know I'm far from a morning person."

Kurt rolled his eyes, pushing his way inside. "Well good morning to you too brother dearest. And mind you, its 9:30, and most normal people are actually up by now doing something productive or at least staring to get ready for the day."

Finn shut the door, ignoring his brother's snide comment toward his disheveled appearance as he sank into the comfort of his couch. "Well you're obviously not here to talk about last night's baseball game. What do you want?"

"Is it a crime if I just wanted to spend some brotherly time with you?

Finn snorted.

"Okay, fine you've caught me. I need you to run an interview in a few hours, and I wanted to make sure you were up in time to get ready for it." Kurt admitted, his eyes darting across the room.

Finn groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "No Kurt, come on. I seriously hate interviews, and you of all people should know that. They always ask about fights I've gotten into at the club, or about girls they've apparently seen me with, but I barely remember."

"Well, you've had some noticeably good behavior the past month, so there's really not much to talk about in that area." Kurt retorted.

Finn shook his head. "That's even worse, they're gonna be all up in my face asking what made me change, bringing up everything they can about my past to compare it to the present."

"That's a question that even I don't know the answer to, actually." Kurt replied, his eyes growing darker with curiosity, causing Finn to look away from his gaze. "Anyways, you're mostly going to be there to answer questions about Puck and Rachel's growing relationship."

Even better.

"No." He simply said, getting up to find some clothes to change into.

"Please? Not even for your brother?" Kurt pouted, attempting to form the best possible puppy eyed impression he could.

"No, Kurt. That hasn't worked on me since like, high school."

Kurt furrowed his eyebrows in disappointment, but Finn could tell that it was as if gears were still hard at work in his mind, trying to find another way to convince him into it.

"Well… that's really a shame. After the interview, I was hoping you'd come to the game tonight. I got tickets for Blaine, Puck, Rachel, and myself, and I made sure to get an extra ticket for you, just in case you wanted to join us, but I guess…" Kurt's pout slowly transformed into a smirk, knowing he was reeling his brother in with every word he said.

Finn looked up at his brother, annoyed that Kurt always knew just what to say to get him to do things, even if it was against his will.

"I hate you."

Kurt laughed as he ruffled Finn's hair, another thing Finn absolutely hated and Kurt knew it.

"Great, so it's settled. Now get off your lazy butt and make yourself look presentable Finn, because dare I say, you look awful right now." Kurt demanded, wandering into the kitchen to probably make something for the two to eat.

"What's the point of inviting me and Puckleberry, wouldn't want to ruin your little date." Finn called after him, with a smirk of his own.

He could practically see Kurt blushing in response. "For the millionth time, Blaine is NOT my boyfriend. He's just a close friend of mine that I happen to enjoy the company of, that's all."

"Sure… by company though, you mean –"

Kurt cut him off as he suddenly walked out of the kitchen with a half empty water bottle in his hands, and threw it at Finn with much force, his face a bright shade of pink as Finn had predicted. He easily blocked it though, grinning at his brother while wiggling his eyebrows, knowing he'd successfully and easily gotten under his skin with just the mere mention of Blaine.

Payback was sweet.

* * *

Rachel was in for quite a night. For one, she was going to a baseball game. Rachel Berry loved stages, auditoriums, Broadway, but if there was one thing that she hated, it was probably sports. When Kurt had asked for her to go, she had initially declined until he had sweet-talked her (and boy was he good at that) into doing it for good publicity, not only for her sake but for Puck and the band as well. Still, the idea of sitting there for hours watching a bunch of men run around with bats and busy chasing either the ball or each other was definitely not appealing to her.

The real reason she wasn't looking forward to tonight though, was because she wasn't informed that Finn would be going with them, apparently as part of a deal Kurt had made with his brother. To make matters worse, she wasn't even told this little piece of information until she stumbled into the car to find Finn sitting in the back with his signature smirk plastered on his face.

Dumbstruck, she was at a loss of words. "What are you—"

"Oh hi Rachel, don't you look lovely. Supposedly the two of us are overdressed for a baseball game however, according to Blaine here." Kurt rolled his eyes, greeting her from the driver's seat with a warm smile. He saw the confusion in her gaze as she stared at Finn with her mouth open. "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention this. Finn's coming with us, since he did after all make the two of you look pretty great in an interview just a bit ago. It shouldn't be a problem though, no?"

Rachel quickly closed her mouth, unaware she had just been standing there gaping at him like an idiot. "No, of course not." She forced her lips to form into a smile, as she climbed into the back next to Finn.

Puck gave her a wave and a wink before turning his attention back to his phone. Finn simply nodded at her with a small smile as his way of saying hi, knowing that if he said, well really, anything, it might easily lead to suspicion.

A fairly handsome man turned from the front, smiling politely at Rachel. "Hey, I'm Blaine, Kurt's… friend." He awkwardly began, nervously looking down at his hands on his lap. "You're an amazing performer, Miss Berry." He added.

Rachel blushed, thankful for the compliment. "Thank you Blaine, and please feel free to drop the formalities. I'm fine with being called just Rachel." She smiled warmly at him, which caused his eyes to widen in surprise and joy, and her to giggle in return.

She could easily feel Finn's stare without even having to turn her head, but she refused to let their eyes meet the entire ride, looking straight ahead and trying to make conversation with Blaine most of the time. She needed to keep her head clear, and looking into those amber eyes would definitely only make it a million times harder.

When they'd finally taken their seats, quite close to the front she noted, Rachel reluctantly found herself sitting between Finn and Puck. She tried her best to lean as close to Puck as possible, resting her head against his shoulder and grasping their hands tightly together, their fingers interlocked. She glanced to her right for a second to see Finn roll his eyes at the two, but said nothing for obvious reasons.

Almost an hour had gone by with little to no conversation between the two. The game seemed to be exciting for Finn and Puck, but Rachel definitely couldn't say the same. She was checking her nails for what seemed to be the twentieth time that evening, uninterested in the game's events. Supposedly the Yankees were ahead by a point though, that must've meant something. Rachel turned her head to the right, and was amused by the sight of Kurt trying to appear excited, probably for the sake of Blaine. Clucking her tongue in amusement, her eyes met with Kurt's as he quickly turned a shade of crimson red under her gaze.

"Blaine! What do you say we go grab some popcorn or something? I'm getting hungry." Kurt asked hopefully.

Blaine nodded, smiling. "Sure, why not?"

"We'll be right back, make sure you don't let them do anything too stupid Rachel." Kurt joked, his eyes obviously brightening at the chance of finally leaving the game for a second.

"Of course, we'll be just fine." Rachel assured, giving him a wink as Blaine turned his back away from them to leave. Kurt blushed again as he gave her a dirty look, finally walking away. The second she was sure they were gone, she had to ask. "Are they… dating?"

Finn laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nah, but I'm sure they will be, soon. Well, maybe not so soon, the two of them are so awkward when it comes to subject of dating and stuff."

"They're practically dating though. Kurt goes over to his house almost every night, what else could that mean?" Puck rolled his eyes.

Rachel squealed in delight, extremely pleased with the idea of Kurt and Blaine being together. "Blaine seems like a really great guy. Now if only one of them finally had the guts to ask the other out."

Finn chuckled at the idea of Kurt trying to stammer out an invitation for dinner. "I don't think that'll be happening any time soon."

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows in disappointment. The two of them seemed so perfect for one another, and the only thing standing in their way was a simple fit of nervousness. "Not if I, Rachel Berry, can help it."

"Really now?" Finn raised his eyebrow, smirking at her sudden determination to set the two up.

"Of course, you see, I can always tell when two people are meant to be, and my senses are telling me that Kurt and Blaine are just perfect for one another." Rachel said proudly, beaming.

"Good luck with that." Puck snorted, turning his focus back onto the game.

"So… you always know when two people are meant to be together?" Finn was still smirking at her, and she felt her cheeks slowly warming up at his words.

Rachel gulped, avoiding his eyes. "Yeah, of course." She mumbled.

"That's good to know." He noted thoughtfully, as he finally tore his eyes away from her, interrupted by a loud noise echoing across the stadium.

"Good evening everyone! We're currently on a short break, and we thought there was no better time than now to bring out….." There was a short drum roll deriving from the speakers everywhere. "The kiss cam! Hold onto your seats folks, the kiss cam has officially begun looking for a few lucky lovebirds to share their passion and love with everyone here today!" The loud, intimidating voice warned.

Rachel let out a groan, wondering who the victims of this cheesy gimmick would end up being as the equally as cheesy, romantic music began to boom across the stadium. Even when she was younger, she absolutely despised the whole idea of being pressured to make out with someone in front of thousands of people, especially if she were at the game with a friend. Could there be anything less romantic? She watched in anticipation, as the jumbotron revealed the many cameras quickly scanning all the crowded rows for a certain couple to display and humiliate to the huge audience. She felt her phone vibrate, but ignored it to check out who exactly had the unfortunate luck of being in the spotlight today.

The camera fixated on a young couple, both decent looking blondes who appeared to be in college. Their eyes grew large as they recognized their own faces on the huge screen, looking around them to see the entire stadium chanting "kiss, kiss, kiss!"

Rachel found herself joining in, laughing but aww'ing along with everyone else as they locked lips in a sweet, long kiss.

The kiss cam was already looking for its next victims, and focused in on two adults, not even realizing they had been chosen yet. When they glanced at the screen however, their eyes widened in surprise, their faces clearly showing deep shades of red. The guy simply shook his head vigorously, as the rest of the stadium booed loudly for their resistance. Rachel giggled but pitied their embarrassment, looking down at her phone to see a text from Santana.

"Get ready."

Confused, she was about to type out a "What?" when she felt Finn suddenly stiffen next to her.

Shit.

She looked up and just as she expected, to her complete horror and disgust, her and Puck's faces were plastered on the wide, extremely gigantic screen that expanded for thousands of feet.

Rachel slowly turned to face Puck, and attempted to show a face of embarrassment, or nervousness, but in reality all she could focus on was her strong determination not to throw up all over him.

Looking into his eyes, she realized he wasn't feeling too excited himself. He seemed pretty annoyed, to be honest. She suddenly realized the entire stadium was practically shaking from everyone's screams and shouts.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

She took a deep breath, hoping she didn't end up puking all over the place, how embarrassing would that be? No, stop thinking about it, that's making it worse, and everything's going to be just fine. She finally closed her eyes, preparing herself for his revolting mouth which would be all over hers in just a few seconds.

She could feel him slowly leaning in, as she gripped tightly onto the arm of her seat, nearly feeling as if she could tear it off in frustration and disgust.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

He finally did it, caving into the pressure of the thousands of people surrounding him. His lips were pressing onto hers, and she felt a pang of guilt as she realized Finn was sitting right next to the two of them, watching them.

Kissing Puck only reminded her of kissing Finn, how heavenly it had been, the passion they shared when his tongue wandered into her mouth until she felt as if she was suffocating, overwhelmed by the incredible intensity of it all.

With Puck, she felt nothing.

Rachel pulled away, grateful that it finally ended as everyone screamed in utter delight and joy, catcalling, whistling, and cheering for them extremely loudly. She felt her face flush, warmth spreading throughout her face, but she knew it wasn't because of her and Puck's shared kiss, not even close.

It was because of Finn.

* * *

The game had finally ended, and she and Finn barely said another word to one another after the whole kiss cam thing. She had a sneaking suspicion that he was annoyed, but the two weren't even technically dating. So why did she feel so guilty?

Walking out of the restroom, she bumped into someone a few steps out the door. After apologizing briefly and not bothering to look up, she turned to leave until their tall frame continued to block her way.

"Excuse me, but I'm in a hur—" She glanced up, meeting those familiar, warm amber eyes. Finally finding her voice, she whispered. "We really need to stop bumping into each other like this."

He said nothing, only chuckling as they started to make their way outside. They stopped beside a few trees when a cool breeze came over the pair. Rachel shivered from the sudden coldness, something Finn seemed to immediately notice. Without a word, he took off his cardigan and wrapped it around her small body. She gladly took it from him and hugged it with her body, instantly feeling a bit warmer.

"Thanks." She gave him a small smile, as he quickly checked his phone.

"Kurt's driving over from where he parked the car to come get us. It's kind of far, but he'll be here in about 15 or 20 minutes. There's traffic cause everyone's leaving at the same time." He said, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

Rachel nodded, wrapping the cardigan around her torso even tighter. It did help her feel warmer, but it was still quite thin.

"It's really chilly tonight for May." She noted, trying not to give away that she was still feeling cold.

He'd stayed silent and next thing she knew, he'd securely wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible to his own body. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she quickly pushed him away.

"Finn! What if someone sees us? I'm really not in the mood to wake up tomorrow morning with my face on a million different articles about an affair." She snapped, annoyed at his recklessness. Her eyes darted around the venue, silently praying nobody had seen the two.

He smirked, pushing her annoyance even further. "Relax Rach, there's almost nobody waiting around here. It's also way too dark to see that it's us anyways."

He pulled her closer to him again, wrapping his arms firmly around her waist while gently resting his head on top of hers. She let herself relax into his touch, warmth radiating off from his body. This certainly was a lot warmer.

"So, how about that kiss with Puck?" She heard laughter underlying his voice, but she also briefly recognized something along the lines of hurt, and heartache.

She cringed in distaste, remembering the whole awful kiss cam experience earlier that night. "To be honest, the entire time his lips were pressing onto mine," She felt him tense up a bit. "For some reason, I kept thinking back to the way your lips felt on mine the other night."

He stayed silent, his hold on her growing tighter.

"Was I better?" He whispered, jokingly.

She hesitated, and slowly nodded. She felt an instant burst of warmth making its way to her cheeks, and she quickly found herself thanking how dark it was.

"I'm glad to hear that." He murmured, with genuine pleasure in his voice.

Finn suddenly pulled away, and she instantly missed and ached for the warmth of his touch. His eyes scanned their surroundings as a playful smile made its way onto his lips. "I'm glad to hear that, because I've been dying all week to do this."

Rachel felt her heart pounding against her chest, as she closed her eyes and braced herself for the welcoming warmth of his lips.

It never came.

"Rach?"

She opened her eyes to find that she was slowly backing away from him, not even realizing that her body was shaking as she took each step back.

It hit her as to why she was reacting this way. This feeling was all too familiar to her. Everything going on right now, felt too closely in resemblance to that cold, winter day at Rockefeller not very long ago.

"Is everything okay?"

His eyes were full of concern and slightly hurt from her walking off. The way he looked at her, really made her want to jump right into his arms and fiercely cover his face with kisses all the way down to his collarbone, and even further.

Instead, she bit her bottom lip, shaking her head sadly. "I can't."

"What?"

"I can't Finn, I'm sorry. I just can't."

"You can tell me what's wrong, Rachel. Did I do something wrong?"

"No!" She exclaimed abruptly, causing him to flinch at her sudden increase in volume. She lowered her voice, before continuing to blabber on. "No, not at all, in fact you're an amazing guy but…"

"But?" He raised an eyebrow, confused as to what she was trying to get at.

She sighed as she shook her head again. "Never mind." She started to turn away from him, ashamed to even face him by this point.

He walked over, grabbing her hand firmly enough that she couldn't walk away.

"What's wrong?" He repeated softly.

"It's not you, it's me."

"That sounds an awful lot like a break up." Finn quipped, the slight cheer to his words instantly fading as soon as he saw a tear sliding down her face. "I'm sorry for my bad jokes, I won't try making anym—"

"We were never together." She retorted coldly, taking his comment to heart.

"I know, but I felt something that night Rachel and I know you did too. And I was hoping I could talk to you about it today and—"

"There's nothing to talk about." She cut him off again, yanking her hand out of his grasp.

"Seriously? You can't get all pissed at me every time you don't want to talk about something, Rachel." He raised his voice.

"I don't owe it to you to tell you anything." She snapped, her voice rising to meet his.

There was silence for a moment, before she continued.

"I'm sorry, Finn. It's just everything is such a mess right now. I like you, a lot. But we can't be together, everyone thinks I'm with Puck, and everything we've worked so hard for is just gonna end up blowing up in our faces."

"I don't mind keeping us a secret, honestly. I can't stop thinking about you. I miss you even if it's only been a day since I last saw you. I was going insane these past few days, wondering, hoping, and praying that maybe you felt the same way." He pleaded, his eyes lighting up with emotion. "And, if we have to keep us a secret, I really don't care because it'll all be worth it, because I haven't felt this way about someone in such a long time, because I find myself such a better person when I'm with you, because I like you so, so much."

Rachel could feel the tears falling faster now, hearing his confession. But it only reminded her of how similar it had been to…

"Finn, I like you, I really do." She admitted, cracking her voice as she did. She felt her heart break at the sight of his eyes, lighting up in hope. "But I'm sorry, all these feelings are too familiar right now and, I don't want to get hurt."

The way his face fell at her last few words felt like a punch in the gut. No, even worse.

"W—What?" He stammered. "This is about Brody, isn't it?"

Forget a punch in the gut, now it felt like a bullet straight to the chest.

"You _know_ I'd never do anything to hurt you, I'm not like him at all." He was begging by this point.

She thought of how sweet he'd been to her, nothing but kind, loving, and attentive. Then she remembered how cruelly he must've treated the girls in his past, a new girl every night, just like Brody had done to her.

"I _don't _know."

The second those words slipped out of her mouth, she instantly regretted them.

She winced. His face was really tugging at her heartstrings, threatening to rip out from her barely beating heart.

His face slowly twisted into sadness and frustration. "I'm so fucking stupid!" He yelled, causing her to take a step back in shock.

He continued with his rage evident in his eyes. "I thought you were different, Rachel. When you looked at me with those kind eyes, I thought you trusted me, cared for me. I thought you knew, that I'm not that kind of guy that everyone thinks I am. I thought you liked me. I thought you KNEW who I really am, and you loved me for that."

"I do!" She insisted, but he shook his head angrily.

"No. NO. You're EXACTLY the same as everyone else, thinking I'm a worthless piece of shit, right? Isn't that right?" He pointed his finger at her accusingly, not bothering to hear her response. "You judge me based on what I've done in the past, just like everyone else. You see me just like everyone else does, you see me as a big fucking disappointment. The worst part of it all is that I bought into all your crap. I believed you when you said you knew I was different, and you even had me here practically begging on my knees for you like a fucking idiot. I really thought you cared, Rach."

"I'm sorry, Finn, look that's not what I meant at all! You need to listen, I have to explain—"

She was crying out for him to stop yelling, to listen.

But he was done listening to her.

"Tell Kurt I'm not going home tonight." He finally managed to spit out, walking away from her furiously, not bothering to turn back for even a second to check on her, leaving her sinking to the concrete, all alone and sobbing her eyes out.

* * *

She was still crouching on the sidewalk, her hair an utter mess and makeup smeared all over her face. Heaving deeply, she tried to stop the sobs that continued to shake her body every few seconds.

He'd left, just like that.

He refused to listen to a single word she had to say after her confession that she didn't want to get hurt. Just like that, he left her there, all alone.

Rachel tried extremely hard to stop the tears, but they kept rolling down her cheeks with no sign of stopping.

She thought she'd feel better if she admitted she wouldn't be able to handle being in a relationship with him. Instead she felt so much worse.

But she refused to end up battered and alone, just as she'd been with Brody. She was sick of hurting all the time, she wanted, no, needed it to stop. Breaking things off with Finn before it could develop into something serious was what she needed to do.

Her reasoning couldn't help try and hide the fact that she felt down-right miserable when she realized how much her words had actually hurt him.

A car was pulling up, and she tried her best to wipe away her tears, along with the smeared mascara and eyeliner on her face. What was the use? Her eyes were extremely irritated, red and puffy from all the crying.

Kurt's eyes widened at the sight of Rachel looking like a complete mess, alone with Finn's cardigan in her hands.

"Where's my brother?"

She quickly climbed in, ignoring Puck's somewhat concerned gaze. "He told me to tell you he's not going home tonight." She stuttered, trying to smoothen out her hair.

Kurt sighed, not bothering to ask why. "Are you alright?"

Rachel bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back her sobs. "I'm fine."

It was for the best, after all.

But if it was for the best, how come she felt even more broken without him?


	8. Drunk on Emotion (and Booze)

**This is my longest chapter yet, and it's self explanatory as to why. ;) As always, thanks for all the alerts and great feedback! I'm hoping to hit 100 reviews by the time I put up the next chapter, maybe?**

**On a sidenote, the best inspiration I receive derives from pulling up my Glee playlist, and digging into a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Listening to the talented cast members put all their emotion into a song really helps me concentrate and write, for example, angst filled songs for angst filled scenes, passionate songs for all that juicy goodness, etc.**

**Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, nor am I affiliated with it in any way.**

* * *

Finn stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked out of the subway station, just as furious as he had been thirty minutes ago walking away from Ra—her. He couldn't even bring himself to say her name without it causing him pain. He had looked so stupid, literally begging on his knees for a chance with her, and she'd done nothing in return but cruelly rejected him.

He was overwhelmed by tons of emotions he'd purposely blocked out for such a long time, that it took him a while to even recognize them. He felt humiliated, ashamed, and worst of all, hurt.

The same knowing look that everyone else he bumped into on the street gave him, it had flashed by in her eyes. It had flashed by ever so quickly, for a slight millisecond even, but it had been there all the same. Of course she'd judge him by his past, who didn't? He had done tons and tons of awful things, and of course she'd still see him as a failure, an awful person who would do nothing but hurt her. He shouldn't have believed in her when she told him she knew he was different, and most definitely, he shouldn't have fallen for her, period.

He should've known it was too good to be true.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. After taking a quick glance to see who wouldn't stop calling him, he furrowed his eyebrows in frustration and angrily pressed the red circle, quickly setting his phone to airplane mode. He was in no mood to continue talking to her. He'd learned his lesson, and he was definitely done listening to things she had to say.

Feeling a cool breeze hit his arm, he realized she still had his cardigan. It was his favorite one too. Cursing to himself, he sighed. There wasn't anything he could do about it, and there was no way in hell he was going to ask her for it. She could have it. Knowing how dramatic she likes to be, she'd probably throw it out, or rip it to shreds or something.

After nearly ten minutes of walking, angrily looking at the sidewalk, and grumbling to himself, it finally occurred to Finn that he had no idea what he was going to do for the night, or as a matter of fact, he didn't even know where he was going. He couldn't go home just yet, he'd already told R—her, to inform Kurt of his plans for the night, and he really didn't feel like taking an earful from his dearest brother. Maybe in a few hours it'd be safe to retreat, but definitely not now.

Looking up, a sly smile slowly formed on his face as he stared at the all too familiar neon sign. Taking his phone out and switching it off airplane mode for the slightest second, he fumbled through his contacts until he reached a certain name.

"Quinn? Are you busy tonight?"

* * *

Rachel flung her phone across the room, frustrated that Finn refused to pick up any of her 15 calls, or hadn't bothered answering any of her 7 text messages either. She sighed, lying back on her bed. Rachel Berry never had tried so hard to get into contact with a guy in her life. Well, not since she'd pathetically thrown herself back at Brody's feet a few days after she'd slapped him hard for sleeping with someone else. Apparently he had taken the slap to heart, and refused to get back together with her, claiming he'd moved on and she had to too. That still didn't explain why he'd recently come crawling back months later, asking for another chance…

Focusing back on her current dilemma, she couldn't help but feel outraged at his storming off. If he'd only stayed to listen to her for at least another minute, he would've figured out that he was overreacting, and she hadn't meant what she said in a sense of offending him at all. And he called HER a drama queen?

Her phone began to ring and she lunged forward for it, until she felt her heart sink in disappointment, realizing that the name that appeared wasn't Finn Hudson. She pressed ignore, not in the mood to listen to Santana's new date ideas, feeling her eyes begin to water.

She winced, remembering his crestfallen face seconds after she had let the words slip out of her mouth, the coldness, betrayal, and hurt evident in his generally warm, amber eyes. He really had put his trust in her, fallen for her, and she'd turned him down in a way that was far from gentle. Rachel was just as much to blame for the whole argument, possibly even more. Maybe overreacting wasn't the best way to put it…

Her phone rang again, as she reluctantly decided to pick up this time. She'd already missed three calls from Santana supposedly, and she didn't want her head to be chopped off tomorrow when she saw her.

"Hello?"

"Berry! Never, ever ignore my phone calls again." Santana demanded.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Fine, what is it Santana? If you're going to inform me about my date with Puck tomorrow, can you save it for the morning?"

Santana laughed into the phone. "No, that kiss cam stuff was golden enough to land you guys at the top for this week." Rachel cringed at the awful memory from earlier that night. "Anyways, I was going to ask if you wanted to have a girl's night out. No Puck, just me and you. You've done such a good job dealing with this Puckleberry crap, so I thought you'd want to loosen up a bit."

Rachel thought about it for a second. As great of a manager Santana was (well, sometimes), she was an even greater friend. Rachel sometimes found herself missing the days where they'd hung out in their shared loft nearly every single day, consequently getting into many, many awful fights also. Santana was the person Rachel had gone to with all her problems, and vice versa. Of course, she still considered them to be best friends, but their relationship had definitely strained a bit once work was put into the picture.

"What do you have in mind?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, just a few drinks, you know."

"I wouldn't expect anything different from you. Do you have a specific place?"

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet there. I had a great time with someone the other night."

Rachel let out a giggle. "Let me guess, you want to meet her again tonight?"

"Well, if she's there, that would be nice. If not, oh well I'll have to deal with it. I'm like a lizard Berry, I need something warm beneath me at all times."

"No, no, ew! I do not need any further insight into your sexual life." Rachel groaned. "The days back in our loft already included more than enough memories for a lifetime." She shuddered, remembering the few occasions she'd unfortunately walked into the room and scarred her eyes while doing so.

"Those were great days." Santana remarked, getting lost in nostalgic thoughts. "Well anyways, I'll pick you up in thirty. Don't make me look bad, wear something pretty." She hung up without giving Rachel the chance to respond, as usual.

Rachel sighed, trying to forget about Finn for the night. After all, how long had it been since she'd gone out without having to lock arms with Puck? No, she was going to have an amazing night with her best friend, and nobody, not even Finn Hudson, would be able to stop her from doing so.

* * *

Quinn couldn't help but laugh as she pulled her car into a fortunately found parking spot. "Back at McKinley's again?" Quinn muttered to herself, pressing the lock button on her car keys as she glanced up at the bright sign illuminating in the darkness of the night. She couldn't help but venture out of her house in curiosity. When Finn had called her earlier, she easily detected something behind his voice. He'd said he simply wanted a good time, to get to know his new friend even better, but she could hear the slight crack in his voice. He was obviously upset about something, and he just so happened to reach her on one of her rare kind-hearted occasions of being in a good mood.

Pushing the door open, she quickly searched around the bar for him. The guy was nearly a giant, it would be impossible to miss him. Sure enough, she met his grinning face as he swung around on his seat to face her. She gave him a smile, as she took a seat next to him, cringing as she smelled the alcohol heavily wafting off of his body. Ever since the night Finn and Rachel had ditched her behind, leaving her with Puck, she'd sworn never to get drunk to the point of passing out again.

"Hey baby." He slurred, as she rolled her eyes.

"Hello, Finn. You smell like booze." She joked, referring to his obvious desire for her to leave him alone that memorable night. That was when she had also decided to give up on Finn, she quickly had come to the realization that he wasn't her type – after all, he hadn't fallen flat for her seduction tricks in five minutes, a new record.

He snickered, taking another shot.

"Why did you invite me out here?" Quinn asked, shaking her head as he offered one to her. "I hope you know I'm not attracted to you anymore, and most definitely not when you're a hot mess like right now."

"I'm not a mess okay, but thanks, I know I'm still hot." He giggled again, taking another shot.

Quinn eyed the number of empty glasses sitting on the counter in front of him in disbelief. "You've been here for how long? You've already been through enough alcohol for one night." She saw him giving a longing look toward another filled glass on the table, and she quickly snatched it away from his reach.

"Hey, give that back." He scowled.

"Not until you fess up and tell me why you're trying to drink yourself into a visit at the hospital."

"I'm not _trying_ to go to the hospital, Quinn. That's just stupid." He rolled his eyes, sighing exasperatedly at her obliviousness. He leaned closer, until his voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm going to drink until I don't feel anything."

Quinn tried her best not to run headfirst towards the nearest toilet from his alcohol tainted breath.

"You don't want to feel anything?"

He nodded in a drunken state. "I have to stop feeling." He tried to grab the glass away from her as she raised an eyebrow at him, keeping the drink out of his reach. It wasn't too hard; he lunged for it and had missed by a long shot.

"What do you have to stop feeling?" Quinn asked, attempting to keep her voice as soothing and calming as possible.

He scrunched up his face. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I can't tell you that either."

Quinn determined that even with the numerous shots he'd taken lying out on the table, he was still too sober to let up on his real reason for getting himself drunk like this. She slowly lowered the glass, placing it back on the counter in front of him. "Fine, I get it. We all have secrets."

Finn took the glass in his hand, easily gulping it in one shot again.

She didn't want to drink him to the point of poisoning himself, but she was extremely curious as to why he'd dragged her out that night. It seemed like it was crushing his spirit pretty badly, but the only way she'd be able to help is if she knew exactly what was bothering him. She pursed her lips as she watched him slowly lower the glass and wave his hands to grab the bartender's attention.

Only a few minutes had gone by, but she was sure of it. Finn had definitely drunk enough to stop feeling most of whatever he was trying to hide from her. Eyeing a provocatively dressed lady walking toward his direction, she realized that she'd have to shoo off all the distractions if she wanted to get this secret out of him. She pulled him into a tight hug, and it was quickly taken into notice by the other girl who slowly walked away.

Quinn almost threw up when Finn inhaled into her hair deeply. "You smell nice, Quinn." She quickly pushed him away, resisting the urge to smack him across on the face.

"Mhm." Quinn agreed, trying to pull on a smile. "Now, what aren't you trying to feel again?"

He furrowed his eyebrows, as if he was in deep concentration. He threw his hands up in amusement, shaking his head as he exclaimed. "I don't remember!" He grinned, obviously satisfied at succeeding his pathetic goal for the night. Then he plopped down onto the countertop, wincing as he shoved his head into his hands. Well, serves him right for drinking so much.

Before Quinn could open her mouth, she eyed the front door opening and spotted a gorgeous and equally as fierce Latina making her way into the bar, and right behind her was an all too familiar looking brunette. Quinn widened her eyes in surprise and delight at seeing her again.

"Rachel!" Quinn beamed, waving her over, ignoring Finn who was too drunk to even bother turning himself around to say hi to her.

Rachel smiled as she turned to see where the sudden voice had come from. Her companion had his back turned toward her, appearing to be too intoxicated to really do anything. Rachel mouthed toward Quinn with an apologetic look on her face. "I'll be right back, I have to pee."

Quinn was excited to see Rachel again, she had seemed friendly enough at the reception. She nodded in response toward her friend who gave her a quick smile and then desperately dashed off toward the restroom. She noted that she didn't seem to acknowledge Finn. Well, his back was turned towards her, so she probably hadn't recognized him yet.

In her excitement of meeting Rachel again, she hadn't noticed Finn stirring.

"What did you say?"

Quinn gave him a confused look. "I didn't say anything?"

"No, you screamed something like a few seconds ago."

"Well, Rachel just came in and—"

His head jolted up in a shock, his eyes darting around. "Rachel?"

"Yes, Rachel." Quinn rolled her eyes. "Your friend, the girl Puckerman's dating?" She winced a bit as those final words left her mouth, but Finn hadn't taken it into notice. It was probably too difficult for him to take anything into notice by this point.

He was still searching for her, closing his eyes as if he was in pain every time Rachel's name was mentioned. "Dating Puckerman, my ass." He mumbled to himself.

"Huh?"

"I said she's not dating Puck." He snapped, as if it were a sensitive subject for him.

She felt her heart begin to speed up. "I don't understand…"

"The whole thing's set up, she's still single. It doesn't matter though, she doesn't want me anyways. She thinks I'm a douchebag. That's what I don't want to feel, okay?" He closed his eyes, his head still throbbing.

Quinn narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of everything he was suddenly blabbering to her. So it was all a whole publicity stunt? Puck was still single? No, focus Quinn. Wait, this meant that Finn… Her mouth fell open in shock, as she suddenly realized what else he'd admitted to aside of the whole PR set up.

"You like Rachel?" She whispered.

He nodded glumly, before setting his head onto the counter and letting out a groan.

Quinn sat there in silence, completely overwhelmed by it all. Just a few weeks ago, she wouldn't have even imagined to be caught up in this whole mess. Now she was in the inner circle, since Finn had just blurted everything out to her. She rolled her eyes at his stupidity, smacking him on the back as she hissed in his ear. "Even if you've told me, don't go around telling anyone else, you understand me? You don't want to ruin your career, along with Puck's and Rachel's, do you?"

She noticed that he had winced again when she uttered Rachel's name, and he nodded again. Speak of the devil, her eyes wandered over as she spotted Rachel walking out of the ladies room.

Quinn tried to fix her composure as she gave her a grin and waved her over to the two of them again.

Rachel skipped over, taking a seat beside Finn until she peered at him for a second and it had clearly finally hit her as to who the man leaning forward was. Her face fell as she slowly climbed off the seat, as though she were retreating.

"Well, I should probably go. Santana invited me out here tonight, and I'd feel awful if I just left –"

Quinn cut her off with a laugh, pulling at her arm before she could leave. "You mean her?" She pointed toward the Latina she'd walked in with earlier, busy talking to a blonde. "I don't think she'll mind too much."

Rachel bit her bottom lip, nodding slowly in defeat as she slumped back onto the seat, leaving as much distance between her and Finn as possible.

Quinn fidgeted nervously, wondering what to say. The longer Finn stayed here, the more likely he was to blurt out this secret to somebody else, and Quinn felt enough pity to motivate her into doing whatever it took to stop all their careers from crumbling due to his carelessness that night.

"Hey, Rachel." Quinn saw as she jumped a bit in her seat, her cheeks flushing red as her eyes quickly moved away from Finn's depressed posture. "I really don't think he's in any condition to be here for too much longer. You should take him home." She watched Rachel's eyes widen, a no already forming on her lips. "Look, I'd do it myself, but I don't know where he lives." She quickly added.

Rachel's upper lip was trembling, as she turned to stare at Finn again. Quinn felt a pang of sympathy, clearly whatever was going on between the two had been awful enough to shake both of them to their cores. On the other hand, it wasn't as if she could lean on over and give the poor girl a hug, she still didn't know that she knew about the whole Puckleberry hoax.

Rachel sat there in silence, twirling her hair nervously. Quinn watched, slowly feeling her patience wearing thin. She could definitely get Rachel to leave if she mentioned that the longer Finn stayed, the more likely their whole Puckleberry romance would blow up in all their faces, but she stayed put for their sake.

"Fine."

Quinn looked up at the sudden response, which had been quiet enough to be a whisper.

"You'll do it?"

Rachel nodded slowly, a painful expression forming on her face.

Quinn beamed, giving Rachel a quick hug. Little did Rachel know, it was to secretly wish her luck on the awful drive that was sure to come.

"Great, I'll let Santana know." Quinn lied. Santana probably wouldn't be too happy if she found out Rachel was driving on over to Finn's place and it would only raise suspicion on her part too. The less she knew the better.

Rachel nodded again, her gaze fixated on Finn.

Quinn rolled her eyes, prodding him hard in the arm. She'd thought about poking him in the stomach, but she really didn't want his disgusting barf to end up all over her designer shoes. "Get up Finnocence, Rachel's going to drive you home."

Finn raised his head slowly to see Rachel sitting next to him. His eyes widened, as he jumped out of his seat and shook his head frantically. "No, I'm not going anywhere with her."

Quinn glared at him, giving him a cold stare that was sure to be harder than ice. "You're fucking kidding me right? Yes, you are." Before he could say anything else ridiculous, she had already gotten up herself and begun pushing him toward the exit. Rachel followed, seemingly a bit hurt by his rejection.

"Where's your car, Rachel?" Quinn stopped to ask. Rachel's legs were shaking as she began to lead the way, and Quinn would've felt bad for her, if it weren't for the fact that handling a drunk and persistent Finn Hudson was one pain in the ass.

"Is it open?" Her question was answered with a nod, as Quinn opened the back door and forcefully shoved him into the thing. "Get. In." She muttered angrily.

Eventually he'd given up, and she managed to slam the door as he finally surrendered to the comfort of the comfortable seat, lying down as he groaned.

"Alright, I finally got him in. What a work-out." Quinn panted, exhausted from fighting with his strong will to avoid Rachel at all costs. Once Finn woke up the next morning with a blistering hangover and realized what he'd stupidly told her tonight though, he'd definitely pay the price.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate all your hard work in the morning." Rachel chuckled softly.

"He better." She grumbled. "Well goodnight Rachel! It was nice to see you again, although the circumstances of our meeting could've definitely been better. Oh, and good luck with Frankenteen here." Quinn gave Rachel a quick smile with the double meaning hidden behind her words, as she quickly climbed into her own car. She sunk back into her seat, exhausted from the night's events. Next time Finn called to hang out with her, there was no way in hell she'd even bother picking up the phone.

* * *

Rachel bit her bottom lip as she started to pull out of the space, feeling her heart furiously pounding at an abnormal rate. She glanced in the rearview mirror, noticing that Finn was still lying down, moaning and complaining in pain.

"Why are you doing this for me?" Finn sneered, a drunken slur clearly evident in his words.

"You need to get home, safely. I don't want you to end up doing something you might regret." Rachel pursed her lips, putting aside her shared annoyance and heartache with him for now. As heartbroken as she'd been when he stormed off, she refused to see him put himself through this whole drunken mess ordeal because of it.

A beat passed. "You'd do that for me?" His tone of voice had softened tremendously.

"Yes." Rachel answered simply, attempting to avoid further conversation with him, which didn't turn out to be much of a problem as she heard light snoring begin shortly afterward.

After what felt like an eternity, they'd finally arrived at his building. Rachel parked her car in the lot, conveniently built for the residents. Well, she wasn't the only one constantly making tons of money.

Opening the door, she nearly had to drag him out of the backseat, propping his weight against her shoulder as she pulled him into the apartment building. She winced, struggling with his much bulkier build in comparison to her tiny frame. Still supporting him, she pulled him out of the elevator as she recognized the hall in which she'd become quite familiar with due to the past two instances she'd stayed there.

"Keys?"

Finn clumsily patted himself down, shoving his hands in and out of his pocket as he located the keys in his jeans. Rachel fumbled with it, unlocking the door and quickly slamming it shut as the two made their way in. She gently pushed him onto the couch, as she stood up and started to smooth out her hair. She looked down, seeing that Finn's eyes were closed and his eyebrows were furrowed, as if he were in deep concentration.

Rachel hesitated before she finally came to the conclusion that she wasn't in the best mood to deal with him, especially while he was drunk, and started to take a step towards the door before a hand quickly grasped her wrist, pulling her back down.

She let out a slight gasp, opening her eyes to see that Finn had pulled her nearly on top of him, her hands sprawled all over his chest. She felt her cheeks warming up as she looked up and nearly melted at the sight of his ever beautiful, warm amber eyes. Realizing that she was still pretty much on top of him, she hastily pulled away from him, avoiding his gaze.

"Don't leave me." He suddenly mumbled, softly stroking her hair.

Rachel bit her lip, attempting to ignore the fact how much Finn simply stroking her hair really turned her on. No, what was she thinking? They were still beyond furious with one another, right? Rachel started to make her way up again as she opened her mouth to explain she couldn't stay, before she realized that the second she had begun to make her leave, his eyes were suddenly drowning with sadness, an empty feeling lurking about and clouding the usually bright warmth they showed.

Who was she kidding? After all the kind things he'd done for her when she'd been at her worst, how horrible of a person would she be to make him feel so awful and then just leave without a word?

"Okay." Rachel slowly managed to whisper softly.

He let out a soft hum of pleasure, and before she could do anything to stop him, he'd pulled her into his arms, wrapping them tightly around her body. Rachel felt her heart racing, and if he weren't intoxicated, they were close enough for him to have definitely been able to feel her rapid heartbeat too. She took a deep breath, spluttering as she inhaled the deep scent of alcohol.

She pulled away, and his lips instantly fell into a deep frown.

"I'll stay with you, under the condition that you sober up for me." She teased, feeling the strain in her voice as she realized what exactly had caused him to drink this much to begin with.

Finn whimpered slightly before giving her a reluctant nod, as Rachel nearly sprinted away to the kitchen to brew some fresh coffee.

"Take a nice, cold shower to freshen up a bit, Finn." She called from the kitchen.

It had only been a few seconds since he stepped foot in the bathroom, but she instantly heard the revolting noise of what could only have been vomit. Cringing and pushing back the disgusting, unpleasant remembrance of the last time she'd thrown up, she quickly made her way into the room to make sure he was okay. Trying to ignore the fact that all of his wonderfully toned back muscles slightly flexing was completely vulnerable under her sight, and that the sight had taken her breath away, she rubbed his back in circles soothingly, as he shivered under her warm touch. She could feel a slight shiver run through her own body as her fingers delicately traced his incredibly soft, beautiful skin.

"Do you feel a bit better?"

He nodded, trying to casually give her one of his usual half-smirks. She gave him a small smile before reluctantly pulling her hands and eyes away from his amazing body, and made her way out to return to the coffee.

Rachel had just finished pouring the strong caffeinated drink into a cup, when she heard his voice call out for her.

"Rach?"

"Yeah—" Rachel squeaked as she turned around and nearly spilled the extremely hot beverage all over herself while Finn walked in tousling his wet hair with a towel, wearing nothing but a bit larger towel covering the lower half of his body. His chest was perfectly toned, a few drops from his shower still remained as they slowly trickled down his slightly pale, freckled skin. As he attempted to dry his still wet hair, she held her breath as she watched the clearly defined muscles in his arm, hard at work.

"Rachel?" Finn repeated, his face scrunched up in confusion.

Rachel blinked several times to try and snap out of her daze, feeling her cheeks quickly flushing a deep shade of red as she averted her gaze toward the refrigerator, pretending it had suddenly turned a million times more interesting to her.

"Yeah? Sorry, I was distracted for a moment, here's your coffee."

It took Finn a moment before he realized what exactly she was referring to as a "distraction". His lips twitched as they pulled into a small grin, causing Rachel's face to heat up even more.

"Thanks." His fingers gently brushed against hers as she handed him the cup, causing her to flinch a bit at the sudden heat that had passed through her hand from his. "I know we're supposed to be mad at each other, and I still am, but I really appreciate you sticking here with me. All that shit I vomited is finally out of my body, so that definitely made me feel better."

Rachel hesitated, but she had to bring herself to finally release the unspoken words she'd been saving for him. "Look, Finn. I know you're still not in the mood to listen to me, but I just wanted to tell you that you misinterpreted what I said." Finn avoided her gaze, his face suddenly falling into a sour expression as he started to walk away from her. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows in disappointment, as she made a grab for his arm before continuing to blabber. "I need you to understand that I really didn't mean for you to take my words the wrong way, and I'm extremely sorry you did."

"Then what way did you want me to take them?" Finn snapped.

Rachel winced at the crack in his voice, before continuing. "I'm still quite distressed because of Brody, and it's not because of you at all, I just haven't let down my walls down for anybody yet, because the fear of getting hurt always lingers around."

"I would never hurt you, and I thought you'd realized that by now."

"Finn, this isn't because of you!" She shrieked, her eyes beginning to water. "You're the first guy who's ever made me feel so visible, so beautiful, so loved! No other guy has made me feel that way, not Brody, not any of my college flings, or co-stars, nobody!" She felt the tears beginning to stream down her face, as she held back a sob.

"If that's how much I mean to you, how come you still refuse to give us a chance? More specifically, you still refuse to give ME a chance." He shot back sadly.

Rachel gulped, before releasing her unspoken worry from the night. "How come you were with Quinn tonight?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me? What does that even matter to you?"

"When I saw you with her, I felt like I had stopped breathing." She admitted in a shaky voice.

"What the hell do you want me to do, Rachel? You don't want me, but you don't want me with anyone else either? Am I supposed to live out the rest of my life, miserable and alone because you can't trust me enough to be with you?" He retorted angrily.

She looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. "You really don't think I trust you?"

"You kinda made that clear when you flat out stated you didn't know if I was capable of hurting you or not. And not that it matters, but I wasn't on a date with Quinn because I'm not into her at all, and you of all people should know that. She and you both ended up saving my ass actually, so I'm pretty thankful I called her out tonight." He answered sharply. "But you know, the only person I really want to be with is standing here right in front of me, and it really sucks that she doesn't want me back." Finn's voice dropped to a frustrated whisper, his eyes beginning to shine with his own held back tears as he quickly wiped one away before it could roll down his cheek.

Rachel shook her head, both in relief and in anguish, as she sank to the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, breaking into hysterical sobs. "I'm sorry, Finn. All of this is my fault."

Finn stood there in silence, his eyes beginning to widen in shock at the sight of her breaking down in front of him.

"Brody promised he'd never, ever hurt me. And look at me now." Rachel managed to scream through her sobs. "He's gotten to me so badly that I've managed to push away the one person who truly cared for me the most. You're right, I have no control over who you go out with, but I like you so much, that I don't want you going out with anybody but me. I'm so scared to get attached again, Finn, I don't know what to do, help me…" She choked, smudging her mascara as she frantically tried to wipe away her uncontrollable tears.

A brief moment of silence passed between them, as she watched Finn slowly crouch down beside her, making sure his towel was tied firmly around his waist, before he leaned forward and pulled her face towards his. Their lips met in a wild passion, his tongue brushing against hers. Rachel nearly crushed her lips onto his, wrapping her arms securely around his neck as she tried to pull him even closer, ignoring the fact that she probably looked completely atrocious at the moment. She let out a soft moan of pleasure as his lips briefly left hers, making their way further down as they sucked and nipped passionately against her skin, leaving a trail of hot, wet kisses on her neck. Slowly, she pushed him against the floor as her body rested snugly on top of his to return the favor, as her lips copied the action he had just taken, furiously at work against his neck. He moaned slightly before pulling her face back up toward his own to meet her lips another time, sucking on her bottom lip as one of her hands found their way up to the top of his head, running her fingers through his beautiful, brown hair.

She leaned back for a second, panting for air as he opened his eyes, stroking her hair gently.

"Do you really like me?" He asked in a quiet whisper.

Rachel brought her lips onto his for a much softer, gentler kiss. She pulled away, her eyes gleaming with passion and her lips curved into a playful smile.

"Then take a chance on me, Rach. I promise to never treat you the way Brody did, to never hurt you, and I promise that I will never break up with you." He murmured softly.

She let out a small gasp, staring deeply into his warm whiskey coated eyes, seeing that they were filled with nothing but pure love and devotion for her. She'd never seen someone feel so strongly about her before, and most definitely not with Brody. Her heart pounded furiously, as he moved his hand to cup her face, stroking her cheek gently to wipe away the tears that had rolled down a few minutes earlier. Her skin tingled from his warm touch, feeling sparks each time his hands made contact with her body. Was Brody ever able to make her feel this way? Had anybody ever been able to make her feel this way? Of course not! How could she possibly reject him, when he'd proclaimed his feelings for her like this? He'd literally gotten down on his knees to prove that he loved her, with that amazing, passion filled kiss that she was still in shock from. No, she didn't have to be scared with him at all. He wouldn't hurt her, he'd protect her. She felt her worries quickly fade away, lost in the warmth of his gaze, and his fingers trailing against her skin.

Rachel slowly nodded, and his eyes lit up with surprise and pure happiness at her response.

"Do you mean it?" He whispered.

"Yes, I will take a chance on you, because you are more than worth it, and I think it'll be the best decision I've ever made." Rachel murmured into his ear. "And I'm just so sorry that it took me so long to realize it." She kissed him softly, smoothly gliding her finger across his chest as he let out another moan. Their lips parted as she snuggled closely against his chest as she felt it rise slowly up and down with each breath.

"So… does that mean we're, like an item now?" He smirked, running his fingers through her hair.

"I guess so." Rachel let out a soft giggle, still slightly shaken from her outburst just moments ago.

"Then I am more than proud and glad to call you my girlfriend." Finn kissed her hair softly, resting his head on top of hers.

A few seconds passed before Rachel came to her senses and abruptly pulled away, standing up as her cheeks reddened.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked worriedly.

Rachel nodded, placing a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles. "It's just, you're still in only your towel. And as warm as your body is, I forgot how cold it must be for you to lay on the kitchen floor."

Finn slowly got up, shrugging. "Definitely worth it." He grinned.

"You should probably put some clothes on." Rachel suggested, secretly saddened by the fact his wonderfully exposed body would be covered up again soon.

"Or, you can lose yours." He raised an eyebrow suggestively, his crooked grin still plastered on his face.

She rolled her eyes at his remark, shaking her head. "As great as the offer sounds, you've still got quite the amount of alcohol in your system, and I'd rather our first time be completely sober."

He pouted, gently pulling on her arm. Rachel stood on her toes as she placed her lips onto his, pushing him against the countertop as they shared another frenzy, passionate kiss. She slowly pulled away, a wicked smirk growing on her swollen lips. "Not tonight babe. Now go put some clothes on before I regret it though."

"I wouldn't hate that." He murmured, sulking as he wandered off to his room. Rachel made her way to the bathroom, to quickly wash the horridly smudged makeup spread all over her face away, and brushed her teeth with a spare toothbrush found in a freshly opened pack tossed aside. Feeling satisfied with her hygiene for now, she tied hair up into a messy bun and walked over to his couch, sprawling her body all over it while turning on the TV to see what was on. A few minutes later, he returned, dressed in a pair of boxers and a faded t-shirt and also bringing extra clothes from the room with him, which he handed to her.

Her face brightened when she saw him approaching, instantly sitting up to give him more space. "Thank you for the clothes, Finn. What a gentleman." His face turned a slight shade of pink as he nodded, plopping down next to her. She leaned over to gently kiss him on the cheek.

"I guess this whole boyfriend thing has a whole lot of perks." Finn teased as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

"Mmm…" She murmured in agreement, taking a deep breath and nearly melted in the scent she took in. He smelled like a mix of fresh laundry and cucumbers, along with the slightest tinge of mint. His scent aroused her to no end as she kissed his neck, drowning in the wonderful scent of his skin. He still smelled a bit like alcohol, but she ignored it.

"I should probably get some sleep." Finn said as she pulled away, placing a kiss on her forehead before slowly getting up. She stood up with him, pulling on his arm softly with both her hands. "I thought you didn't want to?" He smirked.

"You still smell a little like alcohol, so no. However, I do still want to sleep in your bed with you, fully clothed though." She added teasingly, guiding him toward his room as she sat on his bed, pulling him onto it with her. He sighed, lying down as he wrapped his arms securely around her waist. She smiled, her small figure fitting perfectly against his as she snuggled closely against his warm body.

He kissed her hair softly, his head resting against hers. "Goodnight Rachel."

"Goodnight Finn." She closed her eyes as they held each other tightly, ignoring the many issues surrounding their newly formed relationship, as she focused on his deep, serene breathing. She smiled to herself, drifting off into a peaceful, undisturbed sleep, finally accepting the fact that she would always be safe in his arms, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
